Photo: LeeG7144 · CC BY-SA 3.0Jobs and earnings in Willoughby, and the trip to work
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 11.7 in Cleveland. Willoughby grades B for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in ten work in Willoughby itself; outside it, Cleveland draws the most (19%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Willoughby apart on work
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Willoughby
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Willoughby is better than 62% of U.S. towns, #465 of 992 in Ohio. Job access by car holds Willoughby’s grade up (ahead of 85% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($71,309, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Willoughby could be anywhere from B− to A−.
The workday shuffle in and out of Willoughby
On a workday 10,363 residents head out to work, 1,329 work right here, and 12,736 people come in from elsewhere.
About 27,000 people are in Willoughby on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.20 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.
Where Willoughby’s working residents head each day
Where Willoughby clocks in
19% of workers
12% 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 Willoughby
14,065 jobs are based in Willoughby.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Willoughby, 2013 → 2023: 15,306 → 14,065. 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 Willoughby’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Willoughby
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Willoughby workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,073 commuters (the 18% 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.
How many miles Willoughby commutes
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.
Willoughby is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Willoughby is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns, #99 of 993 in Ohio. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.5% 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 12,351 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 83% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 83% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 71% 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). 6.9% of Willoughby households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Willoughby’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,642 U.S. towns of 17,000 to 33,000, Willoughby comes 906th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| 4 | Powell OH | 18,269 | $195K | 1.1% | 2.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Hudson OH | 23,085 | $171K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Genoa Township OH | 27,720 | $177K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 904 | Laurel VA | 18,721 | $74K | 8.4% | 5.0% | 4% | B |
| 905 | Orchards WA | 29,438 | $100K | 10.5% | 5.6% | 3% | B |
| 906 | Willoughby OH | 24,234 | $71K | 9.5% | 4.1% | 11% | B |
| 907 | Lake Magdalene FL | 32,083 | $76K | 13.0% | 3.6% | 4% | B |
| 908 | Hobart IN | 29,298 | $75K | 10.0% | 4.3% | 14% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,642 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Willoughby, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Next door is work for 17% of Willoughby
The biggest share goes to Mentor (12%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Willoughby workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willoughby | – | B | A− | 23 min | $71,309 |
| Waite Hill | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Eastlake | 3% | B | B+ | 24 min | $62,072 |
| Mentor | 12% | A | B+ | 22 min | $88,949 |
| Willoughby Hills | under 2% | B+ | B− | 21 min | $67,214 |
| Wickliffe | 2% | A− | A− | 21 min | $81,750 |
| Kirtland | under 2% | A− | C− | 24 min | $110,455 |
| Willowick | under 2% | A− | A− | 21 min | $77,228 |
Same-state neighbors only. Waite Hill: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Willoughby’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 Willoughby: questions
What is the median household income in Willoughby?
$71,309 (±$5,007) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Willoughby?
9.5%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Willoughby?
23 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Willoughby work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cleveland (19%, 18 mi), Mentor (12%, 5 mi), Euclid (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Willoughby walkable?
Willoughby is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 12.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Willoughby without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 83% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Willoughby, from the people who make the trip.
More of Willoughby
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.