Work means Columbus for about half of Prairie Township’s working residents
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 2.9 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 4.6 in Columbus. The two grades for Prairie Township are A− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Only 2% stay in Prairie Township for work; outside it, Columbus is the main destination (47%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Prairie Township at work: what stands out
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Prairie Township
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Prairie Township is better than 81% of U.S. towns, #253 of 992 in Ohio. Job access by car holds Prairie Township’s grade up (ahead of 90% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($73,793, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Prairie Township could be anywhere from B+ to A.
The places Prairie Township commutes to
Where Prairie Township clocks in
47% of workers
5% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Who leaves Prairie Township for work, and who comes in
On a workday 7,527 residents head out to work, 176 work right here, and 5,114 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Prairie Township on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.69 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
5,290 jobs are based in Prairie Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Prairie Township, 2013 → 2023: 4,966 → 5,290. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Prairie Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Prairie Township: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Prairie Township workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,564 commuters (the 15% who work from home are left out). Across Ohio: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Where in the region Prairie Township works
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Good to walk, short on transit: Prairie Township
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Prairie Township is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #113 of 993 in Ohio. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.7% across Ohio.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,888 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 57% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 4% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 75% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 6.4% of Prairie Township households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Prairie Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Prairie Township is 634th among 1,999 U.S. towns of 12,000 to 23,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Powell OH | 18,269 | $195K | 1.1% | 2.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Bexley OH | 12,452 | $158K | 3.5% | 2.5% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 632 | Florham Park NJ | 14,456 | $159K | 8.7% | 5.4% | 8% | A− |
| 633 | Baldwin PA | 20,516 | $81K | 9.5% | 1.9% | 3% | A− |
| 634 | Prairie Township OH | 16,899 | $74K | 8.3% | 1.9% | 2% | A− |
| 635 | Amity Township PA | 13,585 | $118K | 12.0% | 2.3% | 7% | A− |
| 636 | Monument CO | 13,813 | $129K | 4.7% | 4.3% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,999 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Prairie Township, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
50% of Prairie Township works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Prairie Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prairie Township | – | A− | A− | 21 min | $73,793 |
| Columbus | 47% | B− | A | 22 min | $66,082 |
| Jefferson Township | under 2% | A− | C− | 24 min | $82,300 |
| West Jefferson | 2% | B+ | D | 26 min | $64,136 |
| Brown Township | under 2% | A− | C− | 24 min | $133,542 |
| Franklin Township | 1% | C | A | 20 min | $52,201 |
| Pleasant Township | under 2% | A | D | 27 min | $90,288 |
| Norwich Township | under 2% | A | B | 22 min | $130,801 |
| Jackson Township | under 2% | A− | B+ | 22 min | $91,817 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Columbus. Darker towns draw more of Prairie Township’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Prairie Township: questions
What is the median household income in Prairie Township?
$73,793 (±$11,328) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Prairie Township?
8.3%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Prairie Township?
21 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Prairie Township work?
2% work in town.
Is Prairie Township walkable?
Prairie Township is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Prairie Township without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 4% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Prairie Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Prairie Township
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.