Photo: Holly Ramsey from Boothwyn, PA, USA · CC BY 2.0Cannelton has some of the lowest household incomes of any U.S. town
Measured by household income, Cannelton is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. The poverty rate is 39.8% (Indiana 12.3%). Cannelton grades D− for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Cannelton and work: the main findings
Cannelton and Tell City trade workers both ways
Tell City is the top workplace for Cannelton residents (16%) and also where the most people who work in Cannelton come from (28% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Cannelton is a place people come home to
There are 177 jobs based in Cannelton, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Cannelton has about 1,000 people in it, 30% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Cannelton are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Indiana. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Indiana 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; with 628 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Cannelton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Cannelton is better than 2% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Cannelton’s grade up (ahead of 26% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($29,219, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (12.0%) is left out: Cannelton’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Cannelton stays D−.
16% of working residents work in Tell City
Where Cannelton clocks in
16% of workers
7% of workers
6% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Cannelton
On a workday 591 residents head out to work, 37 work right here, and 140 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Cannelton on a workday afternoon, 30% fewer than live here.
0.28 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.
Getting to work from Cannelton takes about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cannelton workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 458 commuters (the 3% 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.
Cannelton is a services town
177 jobs are based in Cannelton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cannelton, 2013 → 2023: 278 → 177. 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 Cannelton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Cannelton
About 24% 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 trips from Cannelton start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cannelton is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Indiana, on an EPA index of 4.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 471 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). 8.8% of Cannelton households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cannelton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Cannelton sits among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Meridian Hills IN | 1,800 | $212K | 0.8% | 3.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 112 | Galena IN | 1,549 | $128K | 1.8% | 4.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Ogden Dunes IN | 1,163 | $117K | 3.9% | 2.6% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,986 | Warrenton GA | 1,926 | $34K | 30.1% | 10.0% | 11% | D− |
| 5,987 | Glenns Ferry ID | 1,256 | $52K | 23.2% | 1.1% | 27% | D− |
| 5,988 | Cannelton IN | 1,488 | $29K | 39.8% | 12.0% | 6% | D− |
| 5,989 | Erie KS | 1,034 | $37K | 19.6% | 0.0% | 7% | D− |
| 5,990 | Duck Hill MS | 1,414 | $34K | 22.9% | 3.9% | 1% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Cannelton, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
The towns around Cannelton
The biggest share goes to Troy Township (5%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cannelton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cannelton | – | D− | B− | 19 min | $29,219 |
| Troy Township | 5% | C− | C+ | 22 min | $55,526 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cannelton’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 Cannelton: questions
What is the median household income in Cannelton?
$29,219 (±$11,281) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cannelton?
39.8%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cannelton?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cannelton work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tell City (16%, 3 mi), Tobin Township (7%, 7 mi), Ferdinand (6%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cannelton walkable?
Cannelton is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 4.8 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cannelton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cannelton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cannelton
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.