Guest, Sign inJoin
Work & commute in Jefferson · A commuter town

99% of Jefferson’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Jefferson for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Galion (13%), Bucyrus (12%) and Columbus (9%). Half commute less than 15 miles.

Work in town
1%
10 of 703 working residents
Typical commute
15 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
26 min
More than OH (23 min)
Work from home
3%
Less than OH (13%)
Jobs based here
255
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Jefferson?

Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · The commute map

13% of working residents work in Galion

A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.

Crestline: 22 residents work here (3%)Upper Sandusky: 15 residents work here (2%)Shelby: 11 residents work here (2%)Galion: 94 residents work here (13%)Bucyrus: 86 residents work here (12%)Ontario: 21 residents work here (3%)Marion: 14 residents work here (2%)Mansfield: 59 residents work here (8%)Columbus: 60 residents work here (9%)Marion: 13 residents work here (2%)HolmesJacksonNorth BloomfieldPolkVernonSanduskyLibertyWhetstoneJeffersonGalionBucyrusColumbusMansfieldCrestlineOntarioJefferson
1
Galion3.7 mi away
13%94
2
Bucyrus8.3 mi away
12%86
3
Columbus56 mi away
9%60
4
Mansfield14.8 mi away
8%59
5
Crestline3.5 mi away
3%22
6
Ontario10.5 mi away
3%21
7
Upper Sandusky24.1 mi away
2%15
8
Marion20.8 mi away
2%14
9
Marion20.9 mi away
2%13
10
Shelby10.7 mi away
2%11
Everywhere elseother towns and states
44%308
The top trips

Where Jefferson clocks in

Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.

Day and night

Jefferson quiets down on a workday

On a workday 693 residents head out to work, 10 work right here, and 245 people come in from elsewhere.

693live here, work elsewhere
10live and work here
245work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night1,300
Workday810
1,300live here− 690head out to work+ 250come in to work= 810on a workday

About 810 people are in Jefferson on a workday afternoon, 35% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.36jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.36 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.

How far

Half of Jefferson commutes less than 15 miles

Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

10 mi25 mi50 mi65 miGalion: 13% · 3.7 miBucyrus: 12% · 8.3 miColumbus: 9% · 56 miMansfield: 8% · 14.8 miCrestline: 3% · 3.5 miOntario: 3% · 10.5 miUpper Sandusky: 2% · 24.1 miMarion: 2% · 20.8 miMarion: 2% · 20.9 miShelby: 2% · 10.7 miGalion 13%Bucyrus 12%Columbus 9%Mansfield 8%Crestline 3%Jefferson
JeffersonTop destinations (size = commuters)
36%Under 10 mi250 residents
25%10–24 mi178 residents
14%25–50 mi98 residents
25%Over 50 mi176 residents

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.

The jobs

Mostly services: health care, schools and offices

255 jobs are based in Jefferson. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Jefferson’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in JeffersonJobs Jefferson residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms11%30%
Trade, transport & utilities5%17%
Services: health, schools, offices84%52%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less21%15%
$1,251–$3,333 a month32%28%
Over $3,333 a month47%57%

Who does it

29 or younger16%23%
30 to 5452%51%
55 and older32%26%
+81%

Jobs based in Jefferson, 2013 → 2023: 141 → 255. 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.

Time on the road

About 26 minutes each way, longer than most of Ohio

From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.

A year of commuting
196 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Jefferson26 min
Ohio23 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
3%

of Jefferson workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.

About 0 in 10
Next door

Jefferson and the towns next door

The biggest share goes to Crestline (3%). Darker towns draw more of Jefferson’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Every worker, home to work. The Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.
  • Where the employer says. A job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.
  • Two surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
  • Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
Beyond the commute

More of Jefferson

Jefferson home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Jefferson, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
Is the commute from Jefferson worth it?

Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.

Ask neighbors

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.

Post to Jefferson

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in