Photo: Spencer · CC BY-SA 2.5Work means Cleveland for about two in five of Shaker Heights’ working residents
23% of workers work from home (Ohio 13%). Shaker Heights grades A− for jobs and income and A for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 7.7 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 11.7 in Cleveland.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Shaker Heights and work: the main findings
Shaker Heights trades workers with the towns around it
Shaker Heights has about as many jobs (11,973) as working residents (12,203), but they are mostly different people: 11,262 residents leave for work each day while 11,032 people come in. Only 8% of the jobs in Shaker Heights are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Shaker Heights has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Shaker Heights went from 6,354 in 2013 to 11,973 in 2023, +88%. The jobs ↓
Most Shaker Heights residents work close to home
74% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about three in four. How far ↓
Nearly all the work in Shaker Heights is services
93% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 1% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What’s behind Shaker Heights’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Shaker Heights is better than 78% of U.S. towns, #290 of 992 in Ohio. Job access by car holds Shaker Heights’ grade up (ahead of 91% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (4.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Shaker Heights could be anywhere from B to A.
Who leaves Shaker Heights for work, and who comes in
On a workday 11,262 residents head out to work, 941 work right here, and 11,032 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.98 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Shaker Heights
11,973 jobs are based in Shaker Heights.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shaker Heights, 2013 → 2023: 6,354 → 11,973. 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 Shaker Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Shaker Heights to work
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.
Commuting out of Shaker Heights: the destinations
Where Shaker Heights clocks in
42% of workers
4% of workers
2% 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.
Getting to work from Shaker Heights takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shaker Heights workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,977 commuters (the 23% 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.
In Shaker Heights, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Shaker Heights is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns, #20 of 993 in Ohio. Both inputs place Shaker Heights near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 14,335 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 43% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 7.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 90% 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). 7.6% of Shaker Heights households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Shaker Heights’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Shaker Heights ranks: 527th of 1,409 U.S. towns of 20,000 to 38,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| 8 | Hudson OH | 23,085 | $171K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Genoa Township OH | 27,720 | $177K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 525 | Walker MI | 25,881 | $76K | 7.6% | 2.9% | 11% | A− |
| 526 | Forest Lake MN | 20,952 | $93K | 7.0% | 4.3% | 14% | A− |
| 527 | Shaker Heights OH | 28,466 | $104K | 8.4% | 4.6% | 8% | A− |
| 528 | Clayton NC | 32,633 | $79K | 5.9% | 2.8% | 6% | A− |
| 529 | Genoa Township MI | 20,576 | $101K | 6.9% | 4.4% | 8% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,409 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Shaker Heights, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Next door is work for 48% of Shaker Heights
The biggest share goes to Cleveland (42%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Shaker Heights workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaker Heights | – | A− | A | 22 min | $104,073 |
| Cleveland | 42% | C− | A+ | 23 min | $40,801 |
| Cleveland Heights | 2% | C+ | A+ | 23 min | $72,826 |
| Beachwood | 4% | A− | A | 18 min | $106,748 |
| Highland Hills | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
| University Heights | under 2% | B+ | A+ | 19 min | $96,971 |
Same-state neighbors only. Highland Hills: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Shaker Heights’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 Shaker Heights: questions
What is the median household income in Shaker Heights?
$104,073 (±$7,996) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shaker Heights?
8.4%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shaker Heights?
22 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shaker Heights work?
8% work in town.
Is Shaker Heights walkable?
Shaker Heights is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.5 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shaker Heights without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 43% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shaker Heights, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shaker Heights
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.