Photo: Postdlf · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Upper Arlington have higher incomes than those in 96% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 3.3% of residents, against 13.3% across Ohio. Upper Arlington grades A+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 2.5 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 4.6 in Columbus.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Upper Arlington: the figures worth knowing
More than half of Upper Arlington works in Columbus
9,539 working residents, 56%, have their main job in Columbus, 5.4 miles away. That’s 8 times as many as work in Upper Arlington itself. The commute map ↓
Most Upper Arlington 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 ↓
Home offices are common in Upper Arlington
27% of Upper Arlington workers work from home, against 13% across Ohio. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Upper Arlington
75% of Upper Arlington residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 57% of the jobs based in Upper Arlington pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 93% leave town for their job. 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Upper Arlington
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Upper Arlington is among the top U.S. towns, #9 of 992 in Ohio. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Upper Arlington’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Upper Arlington stays A+.
56% of working residents work in Columbus
Where Upper Arlington clocks in
56% of workers
5% 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.
How far Upper Arlington’s workers travel
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.
The trip to work from Upper Arlington: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Upper Arlington workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,151 commuters (the 27% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Upper Arlington
11,742 jobs are based in Upper Arlington.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Upper Arlington, 2013 → 2023: 10,308 → 11,742. 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 Upper Arlington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Upper Arlington
On a workday 15,787 residents head out to work, 1,220 work right here, and 10,522 people come in from elsewhere.
About 31,000 people are in Upper Arlington on a workday afternoon, 15% 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.
Upper Arlington 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, Upper Arlington is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns, #101 of 993 in Ohio. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.6% 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 18,093 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 74% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 14% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 73% 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). 2.8% of Upper Arlington households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Upper Arlington’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Upper Arlington is 5th among 1,219 U.S. towns of 25,000 to 48,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| 4 | Prior Lake MN | 28,140 | $134K | 3.1% | 1.5% | 10% | A+ |
| 5 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| 6 | West Deerfield Township IL | 32,111 | $205K | 2.7% | 2.7% | 9% | A+ |
| 7 | Colleyville TX | 25,727 | $218K | 2.5% | 3.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Liberty Township OH | 40,625 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Genoa Township OH | 27,720 | $177K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 14 | Avon OH | 25,611 | $136K | 3.0% | 1.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,219 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Upper Arlington, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
How Upper Arlington compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Upper Arlington workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Arlington | – | A+ | A− | 19 min | $155,167 |
| Norwich Township | under 2% | A | B | 22 min | $130,801 |
| Perry Township | under 2% | A | C− | 20 min | $186,154 |
| Marble Cliff | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Marble Cliff: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Upper Arlington’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 Upper Arlington: questions
What is the median household income in Upper Arlington?
$155,167 (±$13,473) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Upper Arlington?
3.3%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Upper Arlington?
19 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 27% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Upper Arlington work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbus (56%, 5 mi), Dublin (5%, 7 mi), Westerville (2%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Upper Arlington walkable?
Upper Arlington is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Upper Arlington without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 14% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Upper Arlington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Upper Arlington
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.