Photo: Nyttend · Public domainMost of Waterville commutes out: there are 0.6 jobs for every working resident
There are 1,668 jobs in Waterville for 2,929 working residents. Jobs and income earn Waterville A; getting around on foot earns it B−. Measured by household income, Waterville is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Waterville apart on work
Waterville and Toledo trade workers both ways
Toledo is the top workplace for Waterville residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Waterville come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Waterville
66% of Waterville residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 46% of the jobs based in Waterville pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 95% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
34% of the jobs based in Waterville are held by workers 29 or younger, against 23% of Waterville’s own working residents. 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.
The four measures behind Waterville’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Waterville is better than 87% of U.S. towns, #166 of 992 in Ohio. The poverty rate is its strongest input (4.3%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Waterville could be anywhere from B to A+.
24% of working residents work in Toledo
Where Waterville clocks in
24% of workers
8% 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.
The kinds of work in Waterville
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Waterville, 2013 → 2023: 1,264 → 1,668. 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 Waterville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Waterville on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,784 residents head out to work, 145 work right here, and 1,523 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,800 people are in Waterville on a workday afternoon, 21% 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.
Commuting from Waterville: about 27 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Waterville workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,449 commuters (the 12% 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 commute from Waterville, by distance
About 17% 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.
Waterville is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Waterville is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns, #482 of 993 in Ohio. Both inputs place Waterville near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,770 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). 2.7% of Waterville households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Waterville’s commuters take a bus or train.
492nd of 3,394: where Waterville ranks among U.S. towns of 4,200 to 8,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | The Village of Indian Hill OH | 6,114 | $235K | 3.1% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Pepper Pike OH | 6,886 | $228K | 1.8% | 2.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Independence OH | 7,456 | $116K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 490 | Le Claire IA | 4,741 | $105K | 6.8% | 1.8% | 7% | A |
| 491 | DeWitt MI | 4,795 | $110K | 5.6% | 3.1% | 5% | A |
| 492 | Waterville OH | 6,037 | $104K | 4.3% | 3.2% | 5% | A |
| 493 | Willow Park TX | 7,439 | $132K | 10.3% | 2.3% | 3% | A |
| 494 | Greenwich Township NJ | 5,026 | $92K | 5.7% | 3.2% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,394 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Waterville, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Work in the towns next to Waterville
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Waterville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waterville | – | A | B− | 27 min | $104,114 |
| Waterville Township | under 3% | A | B | 23 min | $114,360 |
| Middleton Township | under 3% | A− | D | 21 min | $121,419 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Waterville’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 Waterville: questions
What is the median household income in Waterville?
$104,114 (±$5,387) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Waterville?
4.3%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Waterville?
27 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Waterville work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Toledo (24%, 14 mi), Maumee (8%, 6 mi), Perrysburg (5%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Waterville walkable?
Waterville is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Waterville without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Waterville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Waterville
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.