Forest Place Historic District · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainCulver’s household incomes are lower than in 94% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Culver itself; outside it, Union Township draws the most (22%, 1 miles). 36.7% of residents live below the poverty line, where Indiana as a whole has 12.3%. The two grades for Culver are D− 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
Work in Culver: the figures worth knowing
Culver is where the jobs are
Culver has 828 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Culver and Union Township trade workers both ways
Union Township is the top workplace for Culver residents (22%) and also where the most people who work in Culver come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Culver makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Culver are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Culver residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 27%. 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; with 483 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Culver’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Culver is better than 2% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Culver’s grade up (ahead of 19% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (6.8%) is left out: Culver’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Culver could be anywhere from D− to D.
Who commutes out of Culver, and who commutes in
On a workday 398 residents head out to work, 85 work right here, and 743 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Culver on a workday afternoon, 27% more than live here.
1.7 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.
The daily trip into Culver
Where Culver clocks in
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.
36% of the jobs in Culver make or build things
828 jobs are based in Culver.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Culver, 2013 → 2023: 891 → 828. 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 Culver’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 19 minutes each way, quicker than most of Indiana
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Culver workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 329 commuters (the 15% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Culver
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.
Culver is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 386 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). 20.0% of Culver households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Culver’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Culver compares with U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 85 | Galena IN | 1,549 | $128K | 1.8% | 4.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 93 | Ogden Dunes IN | 1,163 | $117K | 3.9% | 2.6% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Foxcliff Estates IN | 1,674 | $142K | 2.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,634 | Fowler CO | 1,171 | $44K | 18.5% | 1.5% | 9% | D− |
| 4,635 | Del Norte CO | 1,396 | $41K | 18.5% | 6.8% | 20% | D− |
| 4,636 | Culver IN | 1,256 | $43K | 36.7% | 6.8% | 18% | D− |
| 4,637 | Burnsville NC | 1,655 | $51K | 26.1% | 10.9% | 11% | D− |
| 4,638 | Linden TN | 1,161 | $48K | 26.6% | 3.8% | 26% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Culver, 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 Culver: questions
What is the median household income in Culver?
$42,857 (±$13,240) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Culver?
36.7%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Culver?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Culver work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Union Township (22%, 1 mi), Plymouth (13%, 11 mi), South Bend (4%, 33 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Culver walkable?
Culver is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.0 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Culver without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 20% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Culver, from the people who make the trip.
More of Culver
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.