Chief Jean-Baptiste de Richardville House · Photo: Nancy.mccammon-hansen · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Fort Wayne earn less than those in 72% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.9 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 2.5 in Wayne Township. 16.0% of residents are in poverty, against 12.3% across Indiana. Fort Wayne 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
What stands out about work in Fort Wayne
Where Fort Wayne’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Wayne is better than 36% of U.S. towns, #436 of 593 in Indiana. Job access by car holds Fort Wayne’s grade up (ahead of 79% 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, Fort Wayne could be anywhere from C to C+.
Fort Wayne fills up on a workday
On a workday 46,795 residents head out to work, 70,041 work right here, and 82,812 people come in from elsewhere.
About 311,000 people are in Fort Wayne on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.31 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.
Where Fort Wayne goes to work
Where Fort Wayne clocks in
4% of workers
3% 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.
What the 152,853 jobs in Fort Wayne are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Wayne, 2013 → 2023: 135,128 → 152,853. 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 Fort Wayne’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes each way for Fort Wayne’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Wayne workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 116,523 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Fort Wayne
About 16% 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.
Fort Wayne is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Wayne is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #55 of 593 in Indiana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.1% 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 128,055 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 72% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 29% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 67% 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). 7.8% of Fort Wayne households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Fort Wayne’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
How Fort Wayne ranks: 73rd of 92 U.S. towns of 193,000 to 372,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Oyster Bay NY | 301,115 | $160K | 3.9% | 4.6% | 19% | A |
| 3 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 71 | Knoxville TN | 202,021 | $54K | 20.2% | 4.5% | 52% | C+ |
| 72 | Worcester MA | 213,862 | $70K | 19.6% | 6.5% | 37% | C+ |
| 73 | Fort Wayne IN | 275,203 | $61K | 16.0% | 5.6% | 60% | C+ |
| 74 | Lubbock TX | 273,071 | $61K | 18.9% | 5.2% | 72% | C+ |
| 75 | Providence RI | 195,310 | $68K | 20.7% | 8.2% | 36% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 92 | Cleveland OH | 363,608 | $41K | 30.6% | 10.8% | 42% | C− |
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 Fort Wayne, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
Work in the towns next to Fort Wayne
The biggest share goes to New Haven (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fort Wayne workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Wayne | – | C+ | A− | 22 min | $61,422 |
| New Haven | 3% | B− | C+ | 23 min | $70,970 |
| Huntertown | under 1% | A+ | C− | 21 min | $109,432 |
| Perry Township | 1% | A+ | C | 21 min | $112,479 |
| Eel River Township | under 1% | A | D | 21 min | $99,966 |
| St. Joseph Township | under 1% | B | B | 22 min | $72,566 |
| Washington Township | under 1% | B | A− | 21 min | $67,489 |
| Milan Township | under 1% | A+ | D− | 28 min | $120,476 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fort Wayne’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 Fort Wayne: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Wayne?
$61,422 (±$1,204) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Wayne?
16.0%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Wayne?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Wayne work?
60% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Indianapolis (4%, 105 mi), New Haven (3%, 7 mi), Aboite Township (2%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fort Wayne walkable?
Fort Wayne is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Wayne without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 29% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Wayne, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Wayne
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.