The employment-mix indicator classifies municipalities into seven categories based on the relative balance and concentration of employment opportunities within the built environment. The scores represent municipal averages of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ranked employment-mix variable, D2B_Ranked, which ranges from 1 to 20. Higher scores generally indicate a greater diversity and accessibility of employment opportunities within or near residential areas, while lower scores indicate more limited employment diversity or greater separation between places of employment and residential neighborhoods.

Unlike the complete National Walkability Index, employment mix measures only one component of walkability. A municipality may have a diverse employment base while lacking connected streets, transit service, or pedestrian infrastructure. Likewise, a municipality with relatively few employment opportunities may still provide highly walkable residential neighborhoods if other aspects of the built environment support walking.

Classification Categories

• Very High Employment Mix (17.32–20.00): Municipalities with exceptionally diverse employment opportunities located near residential areas. Residents generally have access to a wide variety of workplaces within relatively short distances, supporting both walking and shorter commute trips.
• High Employment Mix (14.60–17.31): Municipalities with a strong balance between employment opportunities and residential development. Multiple employment centers and mixed-use districts provide convenient access to jobs throughout the community.
• Above Average Employment Mix (11.88–14.59): Municipalities with a healthy distribution of employment opportunities serving a broad portion of residents. Employment may be concentrated in commercial corridors, downtown districts, or multiple activity centers.
• Moderate Employment Mix (9.16–11.87): Municipalities where employment opportunities are present but unevenly distributed. Some neighborhoods may have convenient access to jobs while others remain primarily residential.
• Below Average Employment Mix (6.44–9.15): Municipalities where employment opportunities are relatively limited or concentrated in only a few locations. Many residents travel outside the municipality for work.
• Low Employment Mix (3.72–6.43): Municipalities with relatively few employment destinations compared to residential development. Land uses are generally separated, resulting in greater commuting distances and increased dependence on automobiles.
• Very Low Employment Mix (1.00–3.71): Municipalities with extremely limited employment diversity or very small employment bases. Most residents must travel outside the municipality to reach major employment centers.

Planning Implications

Employment mix is an important component of walkability because the proximity and diversity of workplaces influence travel behavior and the number of destinations that can be reached without relying exclusively on automobiles. Communities that combine employment, housing, retail, and services within close proximity generally encourage shorter trips and increase opportunities for walking, bicycling, and transit use.

Higher-scoring municipalities generally provide:

• Greater access to employment opportunities within or near residential neighborhoods.
• More opportunities for walking, bicycling, or using public transit for work-related trips.
• Shorter average travel distances between homes and workplaces.
• Greater support for mixed-use development and complete communities.
• Increased economic resilience through a diversified employment base.
• Reduced dependence on long automobile commutes.

Lower-scoring municipalities may improve employment accessibility by encouraging mixed-use zoning, supporting infill development, attracting employment centers near existing residential neighborhoods, redeveloping underutilized commercial properties, and coordinating transportation investments with economic development initiatives.

Employment mix alone does not guarantee walkability. Residents must also have connected street networks, sidewalks, safe crossings, public transit, and nearby daily destinations for employment opportunities to translate into practical walking options.

Understanding Municipal Employment Mix

Municipal employment-mix scores provide a standardized way to compare one aspect of land-use diversity across communities. The data represent municipal averages of the EPA’s ranked employment-mix indicator rather than direct measures of total employment or economic output.

Unlike transit accessibility or intersection density, employment mix often reflects local economic structure as much as urban form. Municipalities with substantial office districts, institutional campuses, industrial centers, commercial corridors, or mixed-use downtowns generally receive higher scores because employment opportunities are more broadly distributed across the community.

For example, Portland (14.25), Boise (14.15), Port St. Lucie (13.61), Orlando (12.27), Raleigh (12.05), San Francisco (12.85), and Colorado Springs (11.88) receive relatively high employment-mix scores, reflecting diversified employment opportunities within their municipal boundaries.

Conversely, municipalities such as Detroit (5.32), Baltimore (6.98), New Orleans (6.98), Toledo (7.55), Chicago (8.47), Dallas (8.48), and Cleveland (6.48) receive lower employment-mix scores despite their regional economic importance, illustrating that municipal averages do not necessarily capture the full complexity of metropolitan employment patterns.

Municipal averages should therefore be interpreted cautiously. Individual municipalities often contain employment clusters, industrial districts, central business districts, and predominantly residential neighborhoods whose local conditions differ substantially from the municipal average.

Geographic Patterns in Municipal Employment Mix

Employment-mix scores reveal distinctive geographic patterns influenced by economic specialization, land-use planning, suburban growth, and metropolitan development.

• Major Metropolitan Areas: Large metropolitan municipalities generally record moderate to above-average employment-mix scores because they contain a broad range of employment sectors, including offices, retail, education, healthcare, manufacturing, and government services.
• Central Cities: Many traditional downtown municipalities maintain diverse employment opportunities, although municipal boundaries and surrounding suburban job growth can influence overall scores.
• Suburban Employment Centers: Some suburban municipalities achieve relatively high employment-mix scores due to the development of regional office parks, corporate campuses, medical centers, airports, and commercial corridors that provide substantial employment opportunities independent of the central city.
• Rapidly Growing Sun Belt Communities: Employment-mix scores vary considerably throughout rapidly expanding metropolitan regions. Some municipalities have successfully integrated employment growth with residential development, while others remain primarily residential communities with many residents commuting elsewhere for work.
• Small Towns and Rural Communities: Employment-mix scores are often lower where economic activity is concentrated in a limited number of industries or where residents depend on nearby cities for employment.

These patterns demonstrate that employment mix reflects both urban form and regional economic development. Municipalities with similar populations may receive substantially different scores depending on the diversity and location of employment opportunities within their boundaries.

Relationship to Walkability

Employment mix represents one of the three fundamental components of the National Walkability Index because land-use diversity strongly influences travel behavior. Communities where employment opportunities are located near housing, shopping, services, schools, and recreation reduce the need for long automobile trips while increasing opportunities for walking and other forms of active transportation.

Cervero and Kockelman (1997) identified density, diversity, and design as three primary built-environment characteristics influencing travel demand. Their “3Ds” framework established land-use diversity as a key factor affecting mode choice and trip length. Ewing and Cervero (2010) subsequently confirmed through a meta-analysis that mixed land uses are consistently associated with increased walking, transit use, and reduced vehicle travel. Frank et al. (2006) similarly found that neighborhoods combining diverse land uses with connected street networks and transit accessibility support healthier travel behaviors and greater physical activity.

Because employment mix captures only one dimension of land-use diversity, it should be interpreted alongside intersection density and transit accessibility to provide a more complete understanding of municipal walkability.

Overall Pattern

Municipal employment-mix scores illustrate how the distribution of jobs influences accessibility across American communities. Municipalities with balanced residential and employment development generally receive higher scores because residents have greater access to workplaces within shorter travel distances. Communities dominated by residential development or limited employment opportunities generally receive lower scores, reflecting greater dependence on regional commuting patterns.

Employment mix should therefore be viewed as an indicator of land-use diversity rather than economic performance. High scores do not necessarily indicate larger economies, nor do low scores imply economic decline. Instead, the measure evaluates how closely employment opportunities are integrated with residential development and how effectively municipal land-use patterns support walking, shorter trips, and multimodal transportation.