Photo: Nyttend · Public domainWauseon’s household incomes are lower than in 67% of U.S. towns
8.9% of residents are in poverty, next to 13.3% for Ohio as a whole. Wauseon grades B− for jobs and income and B for walkability. 4% of workers have no commute at all (Ohio 13%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Wauseon stands out on work
How Wauseon earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wauseon is better than 46% of U.S. towns, #656 of 992 in Ohio. The poverty rate holds Wauseon’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($64,477, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wauseon could be anywhere from C− to A−.
The daily trip from Wauseon: 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 Wauseon workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,456 commuters (the 4% 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.
Wauseon fills up on a workday
On a workday 2,453 residents head out to work, 1,009 work right here, and 3,525 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,500 people are in Wauseon on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.31 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
9% of working residents work in Archbold
Where Wauseon clocks in
9% 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.
The kinds of work in Wauseon
4,534 jobs are based in Wauseon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wauseon, 2013 → 2023: 4,544 → 4,534. 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 Wauseon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Wauseon works
About 16% 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.
For most of Wauseon, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wauseon is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns, #338 of 993 in Ohio. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% 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 3,605 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). 4.1% of Wauseon households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Wauseon’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Wauseon is 1,891st of 3,083 U.S. towns of 5,200 to 10,000
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Madeira OH | 9,637 | $168K | 2.5% | 1.2% | 5% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,889 | Craig CO | 8,874 | $73K | 8.9% | 2.5% | 34% | B− |
| 1,890 | Silvis IL | 7,979 | $62K | 15.4% | 3.7% | 6% | B− |
| 1,891 | Wauseon OH | 7,430 | $64K | 8.9% | 4.5% | 29% | B− |
| 1,892 | Olive Township OH | 5,887 | $55K | 9.1% | 1.1% | 20% | B− |
| 1,893 | Highland Heights KY | 6,341 | $53K | 19.9% | 3.0% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,083 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Wauseon, 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 Wauseon: questions
What is the median household income in Wauseon?
$64,477 (±$9,465) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wauseon?
8.9%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wauseon?
21 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wauseon work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Archbold (9%, 9 mi), Napoleon (6%, 11 mi), Toledo (6%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wauseon walkable?
Wauseon is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wauseon without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wauseon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wauseon
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.