John McSweeney House · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainWooster draws 15,896 commuters a day, with 1.8 jobs for every working resident
Jobs and income earn Wooster B; getting around on foot earns it A. Wooster has 20,203 jobs; 11,100 of its residents have a job. About two in five stay in Wooster for work; outside it, Orrville is the main destination (4%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Wooster at work: what stands out
Wooster is where the jobs are
Wooster has 20,203 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Wooster are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 23 across Ohio. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Ohio worker. Time on the road ↓
Wooster draws workers from far and wide
The 20,203 jobs in Wooster are filled from a wide area. Wooster’s own residents hold 21% and the ten next-biggest home towns 20%; the other 59% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Wooster
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wooster is better than 57% of U.S. towns, #538 of 992 in Ohio. Job access by car holds Wooster’s grade up (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($66,898, 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, Wooster could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Wooster fills up on a workday
On a workday 6,793 residents head out to work and 4,307 work right here.
About 36,000 people are in Wooster on a workday afternoon, 34% more 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.
Getting to work from Wooster takes about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wooster workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,474 commuters (the 9% 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.
Commuting in to Wooster: where workers come from
Where Wooster clocks in
4% 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.
The kinds of work in Wooster
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wooster, 2013 → 2023: 18,622 → 20,203. 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 Wooster’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Wooster
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Wooster
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wooster is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #55 of 993 in Ohio. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.7% across Ohio, on an EPA index of 8.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 12,644 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). 8.4% of Wooster households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wooster’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Wooster ranks: 921st of 1,509 U.S. towns of 19,000 to 37,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Hudson OH | 23,085 | $171K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Genoa Township OH | 27,720 | $177K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 919 | Middle River MD | 31,712 | $78K | 14.7% | 4.4% | 5% | B |
| 920 | Erlanger KY | 20,158 | $76K | 13.7% | 4.3% | 6% | B |
| 921 | Wooster OH | 27,115 | $67K | 9.2% | 3.8% | 39% | B |
| 922 | South Kingstown RI | 32,009 | $109K | 8.9% | 6.7% | 27% | B |
| 923 | West Hollywood CA | 34,231 | $97K | 12.9% | 8.9% | 8% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,509 | 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 Wooster, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Around Wooster: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wooster workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wooster | – | B | A | 17 min | $66,898 |
| Wooster Township | 4% | C+ | C− | 16 min | $70,296 |
| Wayne Township | under 2% | B+ | B+ | 18 min | $84,746 |
| Franklin Township | under 2% | B | C+ | 21 min | $71,384 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Wooster Township. Darker towns draw more of Wooster’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 Wooster: questions
What is the median household income in Wooster?
$66,898 (±$3,954) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wooster?
9.2%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wooster?
17 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wooster work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Orrville (4%, 8 mi), Wooster Township (4%, 4 mi), Akron (3%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wooster walkable?
Wooster is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wooster without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wooster, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wooster
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.