Work & commute · The Plains

Work & commute in The Plains, OH

Most working residents leave The Plains for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Athens (39%), Columbus (6%) and Nelsonville (3%). Half commute less than 8 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

47 of 1,106 working residents

Typical commute

8 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

26 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 1,059 The Plains residents head out of town to work, 47 work right here, and 856 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in The Plains.

1,059live here, work elsewhere

47live and work here

856work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where The Plains goes to work

Athens3.2 mi away

39%431

Columbus62.4 mi away

6%61

The Plains (in town)right here

4%47

Nelsonville8.1 mi away

3%36

Lancaster35.4 mi away

2%26

Logan18.8 mi away

2%18

Marietta36.9 mi away

1%16

Alexander8.7 mi away

1%14

Zanesville41.4 mi away

1%12

Athens2.6 mi away

1%11

Everywhere elseother towns and states

39%434

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

How far

How far The Plains commutes

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

51%

15%

28%

51%Under 10 mi

5%10–24 mi

15%25–50 mi

28%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

The Plains is balanced between jobs and homes

0.82jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.82 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in The Plains are

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

Jobs based in The Plains

903 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)2%

Trade, transport & utilities11%

Services (health, schools, offices…)88%

$1,250 a month or less25%

$1,251–$3,333 a month39%

Over $3,333 a month36%

Jobs The Plains residents hold

1,106 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)69%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month31%

Over $3,333 a month51%

+18%

Jobs based in The Plains, 2013 → 2023: 765 → 903. 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.