Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY 2.5Utica has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Utica has 475 jobs, against 889 working residents. Jobs and income earn Utica B; getting around on foot earns it B+. Only 5% stay in Utica for work; outside it, Columbus is the main destination (18%, 34 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Utica, in brief
Utica’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Utica is Columbus, 34 miles away as the crow flies. 18% of working residents (160) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Utica workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 36 minutes each way, against 23 across Ohio. Over a year that’s about 276 hours of commuting, 100 more than the state’s typical worker. 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 889 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Utica gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Utica is better than 55% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Utica’s grade up (5.5%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down (6.8%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Utica could be anywhere from C to A.
The distance from Utica 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.
About 36 minutes each way for Utica’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Utica workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 923 commuters (the 10% 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 flow of workers through Utica
On a workday 845 residents head out to work, 44 work right here, and 431 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Utica on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Utica ends
Where Utica clocks in
18% of workers
15% of workers
4% 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.
The kinds of work in Utica
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Utica, 2013 → 2023: 468 → 475. 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 Utica’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Utica walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Utica is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.1% 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 1,025 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 7.8% of Utica households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Utica’s commuters take a bus or train.
Utica is 1,971st of 5,404 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,969 | Enetai WA | 2,387 | $88K | 3.0% | 8.5% | <1% | B |
| 1,970 | Mohawk NY | 2,350 | $73K | 15.1% | 2.0% | 4% | B |
| 1,971 | Utica OH | 2,138 | $84K | 5.5% | 6.8% | 5% | B |
| 1,972 | Huntington MA | 2,039 | $94K | 12.5% | 3.8% | 10% | B |
| 1,973 | Winfield Township MI | 2,406 | $74K | 8.7% | 3.0% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Utica, 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 Utica: questions
What is the median household income in Utica?
$84,464 (±$16,357) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Utica?
5.5%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Utica?
36 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Utica work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbus (18%, 34 mi), Newark (15%, 12 mi), Heath (4%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Utica walkable?
Utica is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Utica without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Utica, from the people who make the trip.
More of Utica
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.