Photo: Nyttend · Public domainMost of Galveston commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
Measured by household income, Galveston is behind 78% of U.S. towns. There are 102 jobs in Galveston for 527 working residents. Galveston grades C for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Galveston: the figures worth knowing
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Galveston
On income, poverty and job access, Galveston is better than 34% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Galveston’s grade up (ahead of 49% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($56,927, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (4.3%) is left out: Galveston’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, Galveston could be anywhere from C− to B.
The daily flow of workers through Galveston
On a workday 515 residents head out to work, 12 work right here, and 90 people come in from elsewhere.
About 850 people are in Galveston on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
27% of working residents work in Kokomo
Where Galveston clocks in
11% of workers
7% 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.
Jobs in Galveston: what the 102 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Galveston, 2014 → 2024: 117 → 102. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Galveston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 25 minutes each way for Galveston’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Galveston workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 665 commuters (the 5% 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.
Half of Galveston commutes less than 15 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Galveston, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Galveston is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Galveston 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 697 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). 4.2% of Galveston households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Galveston’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700, Galveston comes 2,519th on jobs and income
| # | 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% | 2% | 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% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Foxcliff Estates IN | 1,674 | $142K | 2.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,517 | Bartlett TX | 1,678 | $67K | 14.3% | 4.2% | 2% | C |
| 2,518 | Hudson Township MI | 1,505 | $54K | 5.8% | 4.2% | 2% | C |
| 2,519 | Galveston IN | 1,273 | $57K | 10.6% | 4.3% | 2% | C |
| 2,520 | Franklin Township MI | 1,534 | $78K | 9.0% | 2.1% | 6% | C |
| 2,521 | Fort Ripley Township MN | 1,081 | $75K | 11.2% | 2.4% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Galveston, 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 2024, 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 Galveston: questions
What is the median household income in Galveston?
$56,927 (±$3,259) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Galveston?
10.6%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Galveston?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Galveston work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kokomo (27%, 8 mi), Logansport (11%, 15 mi), Indianapolis (7%, 55 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Galveston walkable?
Galveston is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Galveston without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Galveston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Galveston
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.