Photo: Omnedon · Public domainAttica has higher unemployment (5.5%) than 68% of U.S. towns
About one in five stay in Attica for work; outside it, Lafayette is the main destination (19%, 22 miles). Jobs and income earn Attica C−; getting around on foot earns it B. The trip to work takes 25 minutes on average; Indiana averages 24, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Attica stands out on work
Attica trades workers with the towns around it
Attica has about as many jobs (1,267) as working residents (1,479), but they are mostly different people: 1,172 residents leave for work each day while 960 people come in. Only 24% of the jobs in Attica are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Attica makes and builds things
47% of the jobs based in Attica are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Attica residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 34%. The jobs ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Attica than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Attica fell from 1,838 in 2013 to 1,267 in 2023, −31%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Attica
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Attica is better than 23% of U.S. towns, #509 of 593 in Indiana. Household income holds Attica’s grade up ($68,931, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.6%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Attica could be anywhere from D to B.
Attica on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,172 residents head out to work, 307 work right here, and 960 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.86 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Goods, not services: 47% of the jobs in Attica
1,267 jobs are based in Attica.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Attica, 2013 → 2023: 1,838 → 1,267. 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 Attica’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Attica goes to work
Where Attica clocks in
5% of workers
5% 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.
From Attica, about 25 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Attica workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,401 commuters (the 9% 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.
Attica’s commute, mile by mile
About 25% 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.
Getting around Attica: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Attica is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns, #182 of 593 in Indiana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.3% across Indiana.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,537 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). 7.3% of Attica households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Attica’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,400, Attica ranks 3,436th of 4,453 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Clark Township IN | 3,026 | $138K | 5.2% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 90 | Milan Township IN | 4,066 | $120K | 1.3% | 0.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 127 | Georgetown IN | 3,855 | $113K | 2.1% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,434 | Campbell WI | 4,092 | $60K | 13.7% | 11.4% | 4% | C− |
| 3,435 | Williams AZ | 3,473 | $76K | 13.5% | 5.0% | 36% | C− |
| 3,436 | Attica IN | 3,290 | $69K | 16.6% | 5.5% | 21% | C− |
| 3,437 | Vinton LA | 3,115 | $42K | 32.7% | 3.6% | 13% | C− |
| 3,438 | Elizabethtown NC | 3,306 | $29K | 33.0% | 0.0% | 20% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,453 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Attica, 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 Attica: questions
What is the median household income in Attica?
$68,931 (±$5,800) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Attica?
16.6%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Attica?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Attica work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lafayette (19%, 22 mi), Indianapolis (5%, 68 mi), West Lafayette (5%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Attica walkable?
Attica is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Attica without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Attica, from the people who make the trip.
More of Attica
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.