Spencerville has lower household incomes than 81% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 15.1%, against 13.3% across Ohio. Spencerville grades C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. For 1% of workers, the job is at home, next to 13% for Ohio as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Spencerville, in a few figures
Most jobs in Spencerville pay over $40,000 a year
74% of the jobs based in Spencerville pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Few Spencerville workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 13% across Ohio. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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; with 952 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Spencerville’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Spencerville is better than 15% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Spencerville’s grade.
Unemployment (8.3%) is left out: Spencerville’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Spencerville could be anywhere from D to B−.
In Spencerville, services account for most jobs
598 jobs are based in Spencerville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spencerville, 2013 → 2023: 525 → 598. 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 Spencerville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 23 minutes from Spencerville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spencerville workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 764 commuters (the 1% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Spencerville
On a workday 892 residents head out to work, 60 work right here, and 538 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Spencerville on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.63 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.
14% of working residents work in Lima
Where Spencerville clocks in
14% of workers
6% of workers
5% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Spencerville
About 20% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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.
Most of Spencerville commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Spencerville is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, the same share as across Ohio, on an EPA index of 5.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 775 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 14.1% of Spencerville households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Spencerville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Spencerville places 4,283rd of 5,404 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | New California OH | 1,672 | $162K | 0.0% | 1.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Jersey Township OH | 2,678 | $136K | 2.4% | 1.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Silver Lake OH | 2,504 | $140K | 2.9% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,281 | Olive Hill KY | 1,536 | $71K | 19.8% | 0.7% | 11% | C− |
| 4,282 | Bessemer MI | 1,787 | $54K | 12.9% | 4.9% | 23% | C− |
| 4,283 | Spencerville OH | 2,165 | $55K | 15.1% | 8.3% | 6% | C− |
| 4,284 | Pepeekeo HI | 2,056 | $71K | 21.7% | 9.1% | <1% | C− |
| 4,285 | Encantada-Ranchito-El Calaboz TX | 2,552 | $46K | 25.3% | 0.0% | 0% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Spencerville, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
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 Spencerville: questions
What is the median household income in Spencerville?
$54,883 (±$13,571) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spencerville?
15.1%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spencerville?
23 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Spencerville work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lima (14%, 13 mi), Shawnee Township (6%, 10 mi), American Township (5%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Spencerville walkable?
Spencerville is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spencerville without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Spencerville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spencerville
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.