Photo: Bedford · Public domainHouseholds in Clarksville earn less than those in 73% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.4 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 5.7 in Indianapolis. 16.5% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 12.3% for Indiana as a whole. Clarksville grades C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Clarksville at work: what stands out
Clarksville trades workers with the towns around it
Clarksville has about as many jobs (10,737) as working residents (10,627), but they are mostly different people: 9,603 residents leave for work each day while 9,713 people come in. Only 10% of the jobs in Clarksville are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Clarksville works one town over
38% of working residents work in a town that borders Clarksville: Jeffersonville (16%), New Albany (12%) and Louisville (8%). Next door ↓
Commutes from Clarksville 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 ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
40% of the jobs in Clarksville are in trade, transport and utilities, against 27% of the jobs its residents hold. 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.
The four measures behind Clarksville’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Clarksville is better than 41% of U.S. towns, #397 of 593 in Indiana. Job access by car holds Clarksville’s grade up (ahead of 89% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Clarksville could be anywhere from C to B.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 9,603 residents head out to work, 1,024 work right here, and 9,713 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 (1.01 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 trip to work from Clarksville: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clarksville workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,913 commuters (the 10% 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.
Jobs in Clarksville: what the 10,737 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clarksville, 2013 → 2023: 11,623 → 10,737. 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 Clarksville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
16% of working residents work in Jeffersonville
Where Clarksville clocks in
16% of workers
12% 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.
Half of Clarksville commutes less than 7 miles
About 23% 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.
In Clarksville, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clarksville is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #77 of 593 in Indiana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.3% across Indiana.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 11,043 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 58% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 14% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 62% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.8% of Clarksville households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Clarksville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Clarksville is 1,224th of 1,658 U.S. towns of 16,000 to 30,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | St. John IN | 24,841 | $131K | 2.1% | 2.3% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 115 | Vernon Township IN | 20,047 | $108K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 220 | Sugar Creek Township IN | 18,299 | $101K | 5.6% | 2.0% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,222 | Winona MN | 26,530 | $56K | 23.1% | 2.7% | 60% | C+ |
| 1,223 | Shawswick Township IN | 20,901 | $60K | 13.1% | 2.5% | 28% | C+ |
| 1,224 | Clarksville IN | 22,253 | $60K | 16.5% | 5.2% | 10% | C+ |
| 1,225 | Humble TX | 16,484 | $57K | 18.8% | 4.9% | 8% | C+ |
| 1,226 | Lilburn GA | 16,369 | $64K | 22.9% | 5.1% | 4% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,658 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Clarksville, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
Next door is work for 38% of Clarksville
The biggest share goes to Jeffersonville (16%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Clarksville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clarksville | – | C+ | A− | 19 min | $60,467 |
| Jeffersonville Township | under 2% | B− | A− | 19 min | $62,247 |
| Sellersburg | 2% | B | C+ | 20 min | $72,179 |
| New Albany Township | under 2% | B− | B | 20 min | $65,344 |
| Jeffersonville | 16% | B | A− | 20 min | $70,930 |
| New Albany | 12% | C | B+ | 20 min | $54,710 |
| Silver Creek Township | under 2% | A− | B− | 20 min | $75,732 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Clarksville’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 Clarksville: questions
What is the median household income in Clarksville?
$60,467 (±$7,058) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clarksville?
16.5%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clarksville?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clarksville work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jeffersonville (16%, 4 mi), New Albany (12%, 3 mi), Louisville (8%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clarksville walkable?
Clarksville is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clarksville without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 14% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clarksville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clarksville
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.