Photo: Williamborg · CC BY-SA 3.0Dayton has higher unemployment (5.1%) than 63% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Dayton C−; getting around on foot earns it B+. 7% of workers work from home, where Washington as a whole has 20%. About two in five work in Dayton itself; outside it, Walla Walla draws the most (16%, 24 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Dayton, in brief
Dayton’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Dayton is Walla Walla, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (144) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Dayton are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 27 across Washington. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Washington worker. Time on the road ↓
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; with 877 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Dayton earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dayton is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #254 of 285 in Washington. Household income holds Dayton’s grade up ($70,625, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dayton could be anywhere from D to B.
How many miles Dayton commutes
About 25% 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.
How long Dayton spends getting to work: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dayton workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,067 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Washington: 79% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How a workday changes Dayton
On a workday 541 residents head out to work, 336 work right here, and 546 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 (1.01 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 Dayton’s working residents head each day
Where Dayton clocks in
16% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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 882 jobs based in Dayton
882 jobs are based in Dayton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dayton, 2013 → 2023: 773 → 882. 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 Dayton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Dayton is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dayton is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns, #161 of 285 in Washington. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 12.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.9% across Washington, on an EPA index of 6.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,151 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). 8.6% of Dayton households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Dayton’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Dayton is 3,627th of 4,868 U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Clearview WA | 3,254 | $193K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Medina WA | 2,974 | $250K | 4.7% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 98 | Cathcart WA | 2,064 | $130K | 3.2% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,625 | Connellsville Township PA | 2,008 | $55K | 18.8% | 13.6% | 3% | C− |
| 3,626 | Loris SC | 2,935 | $37K | 23.0% | 3.4% | 12% | C− |
| 3,627 | Dayton WA | 2,538 | $71K | 11.9% | 5.1% | 38% | C− |
| 3,628 | Fremont Township MI | 3,126 | $63K | 11.1% | 5.8% | 7% | C− |
| 3,629 | Fords Prairie WA | 1,823 | $56K | 15.7% | 3.4% | 2% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Dayton, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
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 Dayton: questions
What is the median household income in Dayton?
$70,625 (±$12,759) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dayton?
11.9%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dayton?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dayton work?
38% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Walla Walla (16%, 24 mi), Spokane (3%, 97 mi), Pasco (2%, 55 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dayton walkable?
Dayton is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dayton without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dayton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dayton
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.