Photo: Yahala · CC BY-SA 3.0College students make up 40% of Bloomington’s residents
The two grades for Bloomington are B− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. About half work in Bloomington; the top destination outside it is Indianapolis (12%, 47 miles). For 18% of workers, the job is at home, next to 11% for Indiana as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Bloomington: the figures worth knowing
Bloomington’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Bloomington is Indianapolis, 47 miles away as the crow flies. 12% of working residents (2,967) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Bloomington is where the jobs are
Bloomington has 43,870 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Bloomington are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 24 across Indiana. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Indiana worker. Time on the road ↓
A young workforce
30% of Bloomington’s working residents are 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.
The figures behind Bloomington’s Jobs & income grade
On family income, poverty and job access, Bloomington is better than 48% of U.S. towns, #345 of 593 in Indiana. Job access by car holds Bloomington’s grade up (ahead of 67% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (14.9%, U.S. 11.9%).
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (30% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 14.9%, against 29.8% for all residents. Unemployment (6.6%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($92,027), since student households pull the household median down ($50,465).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Bloomington could be anywhere from C+ to B.
Bloomington’s commute, mile by mile
About 21% 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.
Bloomington fills up on a workday
On a workday 12,333 residents head out to work, 11,797 work right here, and 32,073 people come in from elsewhere.
About 103,000 people are in Bloomington on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
1.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 18 minutes to work from Bloomington
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bloomington workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 31,571 commuters (the 18% 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.
The kinds of work in Bloomington
43,870 jobs are based in Bloomington.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bloomington, 2013 → 2023: 44,248 → 43,870. 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 Bloomington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting in to Bloomington: where workers come from
Where Bloomington clocks in
12% of workers
4% of workers
2% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Bloomington
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bloomington is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #2 of 593 in Indiana. Both inputs place Bloomington 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 38,617 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 92% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 53% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 12.2% of Bloomington households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Bloomington’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 58,000 to 112,000, Bloomington ranks 389th of 555 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Fall Creek Township IN | 75,188 | $146K | 3.2% | 2.4% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 9 | Clay Township IN | 104,932 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 387 | Lakewood WA | 62,755 | $75K | 13.2% | 5.7% | 15% | B− |
| 388 | Largo FL | 80,690 | $62K | 13.1% | 4.8% | 16% | B− |
| 389 | Bloomington IN | 83,307 | $50K | 29.8% | 6.6% | 49% | B− |
| 390 | Tamarac FL | 74,134 | $62K | 13.0% | 5.2% | 4% | B− |
| 391 | San Angelo TX | 100,640 | $66K | 11.0% | 3.9% | 65% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 555 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Bloomington, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
Around Bloomington: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Richland Township (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bloomington workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bloomington | – | B− | A+ | 18 min | $50,465 |
| Bloomington Township | 2% | C+ | A+ | 17 min | $44,748 |
| Richland Township | 4% | A | C− | 20 min | $100,957 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bloomington’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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.
- Students. 40% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Bloomington: questions
What is the median household income in Bloomington?
$50,465 (±$2,389) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bloomington?
29.8% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 14.9%. Indiana: 12.3%.
How long is the commute from Bloomington?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bloomington work?
49% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Indianapolis (12%, 47 mi), Richland Township (4%, 6 mi), Bloomington Township (2%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bloomington walkable?
Bloomington is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.9 out of 20, and 20% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bloomington without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 53% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bloomington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bloomington
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.