Photo: Logan Rickert · CC BY 2.0Urbana has higher unemployment (5.7%) than 71% of U.S. towns
For 7% of workers, the job is at home; Ohio has 13%. Jobs and income earn Urbana C+; getting around on foot earns it B+. About one in three work in Urbana itself; outside it, Springfield draws the most (8%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Urbana
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Urbana
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Urbana is better than 36% of U.S. towns, #771 of 992 in Ohio. Job access by car holds Urbana’s grade up (ahead of 60% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Urbana could be anywhere from C− to B.
Goods, not services: 43% of the jobs in Urbana
6,808 jobs are based in Urbana.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Urbana, 2014 → 2024: 6,786 → 6,808. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Urbana’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Urbana by day and by night
On a workday 3,194 residents head out to work, 1,507 work right here, and 5,301 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Urbana on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.45 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The places Urbana commutes to
Where Urbana clocks in
8% of workers
5% of workers
3% 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 Urbana takes 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 Urbana workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,850 commuters (the 7% 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 distance from Urbana to work
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Urbana, the car does most of the work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,194 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). 9.9% of Urbana households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Urbana’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Urbana is 1,841st of 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| 4 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 10% | A+ |
| 5 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Jerome Township OH | 11,237 | $176K | 0.4% | 0.7% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,839 | Hampton Township MI | 9,581 | $52K | 17.9% | 3.0% | 5% | C+ |
| 1,840 | East Milton FL | 14,783 | $65K | 12.5% | 4.3% | 8% | C+ |
| 1,841 | Urbana OH | 11,140 | $68K | 13.6% | 5.7% | 32% | C+ |
| 1,842 | Oronoko Township MI | 9,074 | $60K | 16.8% | 3.9% | 23% | C+ |
| 1,843 | Liberty Township MO | 14,741 | $58K | 14.0% | 2.5% | 31% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 19% | 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 Urbana, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
How Urbana compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Urbana workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urbana | – | C+ | B+ | 21 min | $68,003 |
| Urbana Township | under 2% | B− | B | 24 min | $69,458 |
| Mad River Township | under 2% | A− | D− | 31 min | $86,330 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Urbana’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 2024, 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 Urbana: questions
What is the median household income in Urbana?
$68,003 (±$6,212) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Urbana?
13.6%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Urbana?
21 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Urbana work?
32% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (8%, 13 mi), Columbus (5%, 42 mi), Allen Township (3%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Urbana walkable?
Urbana is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Urbana without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Urbana, from the people who make the trip.
More of Urbana
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.