Photo: Chris Flook · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.0 jobs for every working resident, most of Brooklyn works elsewhere
51 jobs are based in Brooklyn; 1,206 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Brooklyn are C+ for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 77% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Brooklyn apart on work
Brooklyn is a place people come home to
There are 51 jobs based in Brooklyn, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Brooklyn has about 1,500 people in it, 44% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
38% of Brooklyn works in Indianapolis
455 working residents, 38%, have their main job in Indianapolis, 20 miles away. That’s far more as work in Brooklyn itself. The commute map ↓
Brooklyn workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 30 minutes each way, against 24 across Indiana. Over a year that’s about 230 hours of commuting, 46 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.
What’s behind Brooklyn’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brooklyn is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #375 of 593 in Indiana. Job access by car holds Brooklyn’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (18.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brooklyn could be anywhere from C− to B+.
The daily commute in and out of Brooklyn
On a workday 1,204 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 49 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Brooklyn on a workday afternoon, 44% 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.
38% of working residents work in Indianapolis
Where Brooklyn clocks in
38% of workers
8% 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.
A commute of about 30 minutes in Brooklyn
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brooklyn workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,032 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.
The kinds of work in Brooklyn
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brooklyn, 2013 → 2023: 69 → 51. 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 Brooklyn’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Brooklyn
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 Brooklyn start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brooklyn is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns, #496 of 593 in Indiana. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Indiana, on an EPA index of 4.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,129 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). 3.6% of Brooklyn households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Brooklyn’s commuters take a bus or train.
Brooklyn places 2,624th of 5,083 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Meridian Hills IN | 1,800 | $212K | 0.8% | 3.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Clark Township IN | 3,026 | $138K | 5.2% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 184 | Swan Township IN | 2,327 | $112K | 0.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,622 | Watervliet Township MI | 3,126 | $59K | 22.0% | 0.9% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,623 | Milan NY | 2,328 | $104K | 11.9% | 5.6% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,624 | Brooklyn IN | 2,621 | $58K | 18.1% | 3.4% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,625 | Butler IN | 2,673 | $55K | 19.3% | 1.1% | 15% | C+ |
| 2,626 | Coleraine MN | 1,998 | $75K | 10.7% | 3.1% | 7% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | 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 Brooklyn, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
How Brooklyn compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Brooklyn workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn | – | C+ | C− | 30 min | $58,176 |
| Clay Township | under 1% | B | D | 29 min | $81,944 |
| Brown Township | under 1% | B | B− | 28 min | $70,421 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Brooklyn’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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Brooklyn: questions
What is the median household income in Brooklyn?
$58,176 (±$6,109) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brooklyn?
18.1%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brooklyn?
30 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brooklyn work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Indianapolis (38%, 20 mi), Mooresville (11%, 4 mi), Plainfield (8%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brooklyn walkable?
Brooklyn is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 4.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brooklyn 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 Brooklyn, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brooklyn
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.