Regional study connects housing, transportation, and jobs
Posted By: Toledo Blade on July 22, 2026. For more information, please click here to read the source article.
Every morning, tens of thousands of northwest Ohio workers stream across county lines, turning highways between Lucas and Wood counties into two-way arteries for the regional economy.
Nearly 22,000 Lucas County residents commute to Wood County each day, while almost 20,000 Wood County residents head the other way — a daily exchange that regional planners say exposes how tightly the area’s jobs, housing, and transportation systems are intertwined.
A new study led by the Lake Erie West Regional Council seeks to understand not only where people live and work but why they make those choices.
“We see people crossing these county borders just all day, every day,” said Nichole Fifer, director of Bowling Green State University’s Center for Regional Development, which is partnering on the study.
The research covers Lucas, Wood, Ottawa, Sandusky, Seneca, and Monroe counties. It grew out of Lake Erie West’s transportation and economic development planning, which showed that workers regularly traveled long distances, including into neighboring counties, for jobs.
Crossing county lines to clock in
Sandy Spang, Lake Erie West’s executive director, said many communities have conducted their own housing studies, but those reports typically stop at municipal boundaries. A regional approach, she said, can show how one community’s housing decisions affect employers, workers, roads, and public services elsewhere.
“We wanted to provide regional information that addressed housing without duplicating the work already happening in individual communities,” Ms. Spang said.
Thousands of residents commute between neighboring communities each morning, tying one county’s job growth to another’s housing supply and transportation network.
“We’re definitely sharing the work force,” said Marissa Bechstein, Lake Erie West’s program manager for regional development.
“We have a great roadway network here, so we can get people quickly around,” she said, “but that also does mean we are a very car-dependent, car-centric region.”
Jobs here, homes there
The study comes as northwest Ohio communities welcome a wave of major development projects, including UDD Tech Corp.’s drone assembly facility in Lucas County and a Wood County facility by French automotive supplier OPmobility.
Transportation expenses might complicate the region’s reputation for affordability.
Formerly known as the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments, Lake Erie West has data showing that households in all six counties spend more than the recommended 15 percent of income on transportation. Ottawa County residents spend an estimated 27 percent, while residents of Sandusky and Seneca counties spend 26 percent.
Lucas and Monroe counties have the lowest listed rate, but transportation still consumes about 22 percent of household income.
The push to better align jobs and housing comes as Toledo prepares to invest in new development sites.
The Toledo Community Improvement Corp. oversees a $25 million Shovel Ready Sites Fund intended to acquire and prepare properties for redevelopment, with Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz saying the sites will be used largely for housing.
The investment is part of the mayor’s goal of growing Toledo’s population from about 270,000 to 300,000 by 2045.
The need for additional housing is underscored by a market in which demand continues to outpace supply. In Lucas and Wood counties, 729 single-family homes were listed in June, up 3.7 percent from a year earlier, while the median sales price rose 2.2 percent to $235,000. The market had about 2.6 months of available inventory.
When housing and transportation costs are considered together, Ms. Spang said, the financial burden of a long commute becomes clearer — especially as car prices, insurance, fuel, and repair costs rise.
Researchers can already track where commutes begin and end through census, traffic, and work-force data. What they cannot see is the reasoning behind those trips.
“It’s the ‘why’ we don’t know,” Ms. Fifer said. “It’s the ‘why’ behind the data.”
Survey says
A new public survey will ask residents about commute times, income, housing preferences, transportation barriers, child care, schools, family ties, and other factors shaping where they live and work.
Researchers want to learn whether someone drives an hour because housing near work is unavailable, because relatives provide child care, or simply because the worker prefers a particular community.
BGSU researchers plan to gather responses online and at community spaces throughout the summer. They will seek responses across urban and rural areas, then hold focus groups with employers, developers, and government officials.
The survey results will be layered over existing data to help local leaders decide where housing, transit, amenities, and work-force services are most needed.
“If you don’t know what’s actually holding people back from moving into your community,” Ms. Fifer said, “then it’s even harder for you to really decide what’s the right thing to invest in right now.”
Researchers hope to complete the report by the end of the year. The survey can be found at tmacog.org.
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