Work & commute · Prairie

Work & commute in Prairie, OH

Most working residents leave Prairie for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Columbus (47%), Dublin (5%) and Grove City (4%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

176 of 7,703 working residents

Typical commute

11 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

21 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

15%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 7,527 Prairie residents head out of town to work, 176 work right here, and 5,114 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Prairie.

7,527live here, work elsewhere

176live and work here

5,114work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Prairie goes to work

Columbus11.1 mi away

47%3,595

Dublin12.2 mi away

5%357

Grove City8.1 mi away

4%325

Hilliard6.8 mi away

4%318

West Jefferson7 mi away

2%146

Lincoln Village3 mi away

1%112

Franklin8.6 mi away

1%109

Upper Arlington8.7 mi away

1%108

Westerville19.3 mi away

1%106

Obetz13.8 mi away

1%90

Everywhere elseother towns and states

32%2,437

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Prairie commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

43%

40%

13%

43%Under 10 mi

40%10–24 mi

4%25–50 mi

13%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Prairie is a commuter town

0.69jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Prairie are

5,290 jobs are based in Prairie. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Prairie’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Prairie

5,290 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)4%

Trade, transport & utilities15%

Services (health, schools, offices…)81%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month26%

Over $3,333 a month59%

Jobs Prairie residents hold

7,703 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities25%

Services (health, schools, offices…)62%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month60%

+7%

Jobs based in Prairie, 2013 → 2023: 4,966 → 5,290. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe 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 saysA 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 surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.