Unemployment in Bright (0.7%) is lower than in 96% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are higher than in 83% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Bright is better than 95% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (C). Home is the office for 19% of workers; Indiana has 11%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Bright stands out on work
Many jobs in Bright pay little
37% of the jobs based in Bright pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 47% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Bright
63% of Bright residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 34% of the jobs based in Bright pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 95% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Bright is a place people come home to
There are 475 jobs based in Bright, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Bright has about 3,200 people in it, 42% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Bright works from home
19% of Bright workers work from home, against 11% across Indiana. Time on the road ↓
Bright workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 29 minutes each way, against 24 across Indiana. Over a year that’s about 222 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
How Bright earns its Jobs & income grade
Unemployment is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 63% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bright could be anywhere from A to A+.
In Bright, services account for most jobs
475 jobs are based in Bright.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bright, 2013 → 2023: 357 → 475. 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 Bright’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Bright, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 2,674 residents head out to work, 140 work right here, and 335 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,200 people are in Bright on a workday afternoon, 42% fewer than live here.
0.17 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Each way, about 29 minutes from Bright
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bright workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,342 commuters (the 19% 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.
17% of working residents work in Cincinnati
Where Bright clocks in
17% 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.
How many miles Bright commutes
About 18% 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 of Bright commutes by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Indiana, on an EPA index of 5.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,886 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). 1.7% of Bright households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Bright’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Bright is 222nd of 3,502 U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 81 | Milan Township IN | 4,066 | $120K | 1.3% | 0.0% | 9% | A+ |
| 82 | Worth Township IN | 6,688 | $123K | 4.1% | 0.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 130 | Hidden Valley IN | 5,706 | $121K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 220 | Greenland NH | 4,143 | $163K | 0.5% | 2.3% | 4% | A |
| 221 | Darby Township OH | 4,441 | $122K | 3.4% | 3.0% | 6% | A |
| 222 | Bright IN | 5,540 | $109K | 3.3% | 0.7% | 5% | A |
| 223 | Huber Ridge OH | 4,111 | $97K | 3.0% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| 224 | Newbury MA | 6,895 | $175K | 4.4% | 2.3% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,502 | 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 Bright, 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 Bright: questions
What is the median household income in Bright?
$108,974 (±$11,539) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bright?
3.3%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bright?
29 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bright work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cincinnati (17%, 20 mi), Lawrenceburg (6%, 8 mi), Harrison (4%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bright walkable?
Bright is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bright without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bright, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bright
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.