Photo: Sixflashphoto · CC BY-SA 4.0At 8.8%, unemployment in Whitehall is higher than in 91% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 4.6 in Columbus. The two grades for Whitehall are C for jobs and income and A for walkability. Measured by household income, Whitehall is behind 86% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Whitehall, in a few figures
Whitehall trades workers with the towns around it
Whitehall has about as many jobs (10,071) as working residents (8,560), but they are mostly different people: 8,146 residents leave for work each day while 9,657 people come in. Only 4% of the jobs in Whitehall are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Whitehall and Columbus trade workers both ways
Columbus is the top workplace for Whitehall residents (48%) and also where the most people who work in Whitehall come from (39% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Whitehall residents work close to home
61% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Whitehall
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Whitehall is better than 28% of U.S. towns, #833 of 992 in Ohio. Job access by car holds Whitehall’s grade up (ahead of 92% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Whitehall could be anywhere from C− to C+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Whitehall
On a workday 8,146 residents head out to work, 414 work right here, and 9,657 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.18 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.
48% of working residents work in Columbus
Where Whitehall clocks in
48% of workers
3% 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.
Miles to work from Whitehall
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.
What Whitehall’s employers do
10,071 jobs are based in Whitehall.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Whitehall, 2013 → 2023: 12,809 → 10,071. 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 Whitehall’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Whitehall, about 21 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Whitehall workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,162 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.
In Whitehall, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Whitehall is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns, #16 of 993 in Ohio. Both inputs place Whitehall 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 9,232 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 87% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 22% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 80% 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). 15.6% of Whitehall households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 6% of Whitehall’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 14,000 to 27,000, Whitehall ranks 1,545th of 1,860 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Powell OH | 18,269 | $195K | 1.1% | 2.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Hudson OH | 23,085 | $171K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Avon OH | 25,611 | $136K | 3.0% | 1.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,543 | Ottumwa IA | 25,319 | $61K | 17.2% | 4.6% | 49% | C |
| 1,544 | Mesquite NV | 24,001 | $75K | 10.6% | 5.7% | 55% | C |
| 1,545 | Whitehall OH | 19,805 | $52K | 16.4% | 8.8% | 5% | C |
| 1,546 | Rutland VT | 15,363 | $58K | 15.3% | 4.4% | 41% | C |
| 1,547 | Jacksonville IL | 17,752 | $65K | 18.5% | 5.1% | 41% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,860 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Whitehall, 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 Whitehall: questions
What is the median household income in Whitehall?
$51,759 (±$3,403) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Whitehall?
16.4%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Whitehall?
21 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Whitehall work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbus (48%, 6 mi), Gahanna (3%, 5 mi), Groveport (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Whitehall walkable?
Whitehall is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.1 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Whitehall without a car?
6% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. 22% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Whitehall, from the people who make the trip.
More of Whitehall
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.