Bourbon Residential Historic District · Photo: Jon Roanhaus · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs, pay and the trip to work in Bourbon
Working residents average 21 minutes each way (Indiana 24, U.S. 26). The two grades for Bourbon are B− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in seven stay in Bourbon for work; outside it, Warsaw is the main destination (14%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Bourbon in brief
Bourbon makes and builds things
38% of the jobs based in Bourbon are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Bourbon residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 45%. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Bourbon
62% of Bourbon residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 44% of the jobs based in Bourbon pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 87% leave town for their job. 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 791 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Bourbon
On income, poverty and job access, Bourbon is better than 45% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Bourbon’s grade.
Unemployment (4.3%) is left out: Bourbon’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Bourbon could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Goods jobs make up 38% of work in Bourbon
642 jobs are based in Bourbon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bourbon, 2013 → 2023: 607 → 642. 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 Bourbon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Bourbon: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 692 residents head out to work, 99 work right here, and 543 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 (0.81 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.
The towns that employ Bourbon’s residents
Where Bourbon clocks in
14% of workers
7% 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.
About 21 minutes each way, quicker than most of Indiana
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bourbon workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 873 commuters (the 7% 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 distance from Bourbon to work
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.
Bourbon is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bourbon is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Indiana, on an EPA index of 6.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 941 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). 4.1% of Bourbon households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bourbon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300, Bourbon ranks 2,448th of 5,760 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Meridian Hills IN | 1,800 | $212K | 0.8% | 3.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 112 | Galena IN | 1,549 | $128K | 1.8% | 4.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 164 | Foxcliff Estates IN | 1,674 | $142K | 2.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,446 | Manito IL | 1,473 | $72K | 8.3% | 2.9% | 23% | B− |
| 2,447 | Brookston IN | 1,659 | $63K | 8.4% | 0.6% | 4% | B− |
| 2,448 | Bourbon IN | 1,674 | $74K | 10.9% | 4.3% | 13% | B− |
| 2,449 | Pokagon Township MI | 2,084 | $72K | 9.0% | 5.2% | 3% | B− |
| 2,450 | Stockton NY | 1,999 | $74K | 6.6% | 3.6% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Bourbon, 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 Bourbon: questions
What is the median household income in Bourbon?
$73,510 (±$15,148) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bourbon?
10.9%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bourbon?
21 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bourbon work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Warsaw (14%, 14 mi), Plymouth (9%, 11 mi), Nappanee (7%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bourbon walkable?
Bourbon is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bourbon 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 Bourbon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bourbon
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.