Photo: Chris Flook · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Albany commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
420 jobs are based in Albany, and 889 of its residents work somewhere. Albany grades B− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Measured by household income, Albany is behind 77% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Albany, in a few figures
Albany and Muncie trade workers both ways
Muncie is the top workplace for Albany residents (29%) and also where the most people who work in Albany come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Albany
56% of Albany residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 24% of the jobs based in Albany pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 95% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Albany pay little
37% of the jobs based in Albany pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 39% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 889 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Albany earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Albany is better than 53% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Albany’s grade up (2.7%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($58,026, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Albany could be anywhere from C to B+.
29% of working residents work in Muncie
Where Albany clocks in
29% of workers
12% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Services make up most of the work in Albany
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Albany, 2013 → 2023: 419 → 420. 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.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Albany’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Albany, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 847 residents head out to work, 42 work right here, and 378 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Albany on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Getting to work from Albany takes about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Albany workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,088 commuters (the 10% who work from home are left out). Across Indiana: 85% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far Albany’s workers travel
About 26% 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.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most trips from Albany start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Albany is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Albany near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,209 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.5% of Albany households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Albany’s commuters take a bus or train.
Albany places 2,124th of 5,328 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Meridian Hills IN | 1,800 | $212K | 0.8% | 3.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Clark Township IN | 3,026 | $138K | 5.2% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 168 | Foxcliff Estates IN | 1,674 | $142K | 2.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,122 | Malad City ID | 2,338 | $77K | 8.2% | 1.4% | 35% | B− |
| 2,123 | Emerson GA | 2,260 | $75K | 12.5% | 8.4% | 2% | B− |
| 2,124 | Albany IN | 2,269 | $58K | 6.8% | 2.7% | 5% | B− |
| 2,125 | Noble Township IN | 1,896 | $92K | 9.8% | 4.5% | 1% | B− |
| 2,126 | Clarksburg MA | 1,625 | $77K | 4.0% | 3.6% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Albany, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Albany: questions
What is the median household income in Albany?
$58,026 (±$4,098) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Albany?
6.8%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Albany?
32 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Albany work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Muncie (29%, 11 mi), Indianapolis (12%, 60 mi), Hamilton Township (4%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Albany walkable?
Albany is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Albany without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Albany, from the people who make the trip.
More of Albany
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. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.