Photo: Nyttend · Public domainUnion City’s household incomes are among the lowest in the country
Measured by household income, Union City is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. 38.3% of residents are in poverty, next to 13.3% for Ohio as a whole. Union City grades D− for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Union City and work: the main findings
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Union City
On income, poverty and job access, Union City is better than 3% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Union City’s grade up (ahead of 30% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($32,067, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (13.7%) is left out: Union City’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Union City stays D−.
Each way, about 24 minutes from Union City
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Union City workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 533 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.
Union City by day and by night
On a workday 628 residents head out to work, 27 work right here, and 245 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Union City on a workday afternoon, 24% fewer than live here.
0.42 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 Greenville
Where Union City clocks in
14% of workers
6% of workers
6% 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.
Inside Union City’s 272 jobs
272 jobs are based in Union City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Union City, 2013 → 2023: 336 → 272. 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 Union City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Union City
About 23% 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.
Union City is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Union City is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.7% across Ohio, on an EPA index of 7.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 540 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). 15.1% of Union City households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Union City’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100, and where Union City sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | New California OH | 1,672 | $162K | 0.0% | 1.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Millcreek Township OH | 1,562 | $151K | 2.3% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Bratenahl OH | 1,396 | $138K | 4.4% | 0.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,417 | Hatch NM | 1,584 | $43K | 19.0% | 9.9% | 27% | D− |
| 5,418 | St. Johnsville NY | 1,706 | $47K | 27.7% | 7.0% | 8% | D− |
| 5,419 | Union City OH | 1,567 | $32K | 38.3% | 13.7% | 4% | D− |
| 5,420 | Linden TX | 1,809 | $44K | 32.1% | 5.8% | 14% | D− |
| 5,421 | Harrisville WV | 1,511 | $48K | 25.1% | 2.1% | 18% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Union City, 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 Union City: questions
What is the median household income in Union City?
$32,067 (±$7,170) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Union City?
38.3%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Union City?
24 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Union City work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greenville (14%, 11 mi), Union City (6%, 2 mi), Jackson Township (6%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Union City walkable?
Union City is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Union City without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Union City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Union City
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.