Downtown Butler Historic District · Public domainButler has lower unemployment (1.1%) than 94% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Butler is behind 82% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Butler C+; getting around on foot earns it B−. About one in seven work in Butler itself; outside it, Fort Wayne draws the most (14%, 27 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Butler
Butler makes and builds things
70% of the jobs based in Butler are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Butler residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 41%. The jobs ↓
Butler is where the jobs are
Butler has 2,873 jobs, 2.3 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 4,300 people are in town, 61% more than the 2,700 who live here. Day and night ↓
Butler’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Butler is Fort Wayne, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (169) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The biggest group of Butler’s workers comes from Fort Wayne
412 of the people who work in Butler live in Fort Wayne, 27 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Butler has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Butler went from 2,041 in 2013 to 2,873 in 2023, +41%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Jobs & income in Butler: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Butler is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #373 of 593 in Indiana. Unemployment holds Butler’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (19.3%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Butler could be anywhere from C to B+.
Factories, building and farms: 70% of the jobs in Butler
2,873 jobs are based in Butler.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Butler, 2013 → 2023: 2,041 → 2,873. 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 Butler’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Butler by day
On a workday 1,051 residents head out to work, 192 work right here, and 2,681 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,300 people are in Butler on a workday afternoon, 61% more than live here.
2.3 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.
How many miles Butler 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.
Where the people who work in Butler live
Where Butler clocks in
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.
Time on the road from Butler: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Butler workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,167 commuters (the 4% 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.
Getting around Butler: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Butler is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns, #273 of 593 in Indiana. Both inputs place Butler 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 1,214 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). 7.5% of Butler households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Butler’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Butler ranks: 2,534th of 4,797 U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Clark Township IN | 3,026 | $138K | 5.2% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 176 | Swan Township IN | 2,327 | $112K | 0.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 198 | Wills Township IN | 2,111 | $113K | 1.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,532 | Milan NY | 2,328 | $104K | 11.9% | 5.6% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,533 | Brooklyn IN | 2,621 | $58K | 18.1% | 3.4% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,534 | Butler IN | 2,673 | $55K | 19.3% | 1.1% | 15% | C+ |
| 2,535 | Coleraine MN | 1,998 | $75K | 10.7% | 3.1% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,536 | Jacksboro TN | 2,235 | $69K | 12.7% | 3.8% | 10% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,797 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Butler, 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 Butler: questions
What is the median household income in Butler?
$54,688 (±$14,815) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Butler?
19.3%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Butler?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Butler work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Wayne (14%, 27 mi), Auburn (8%, 10 mi), Wilmington Township (8%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Butler walkable?
Butler is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Butler without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Butler, from the people who make the trip.
More of Butler
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.