Photo: United States Air Force · Public domainGrissom AFB has higher unemployment (7.5%) than 86% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are lower than in 81% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Grissom AFB D; getting around on foot earns it C−. 3% of workers work from home; Indiana has 11%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Grissom AFB apart
A big share show a job far from home
39% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
41% of the jobs in Grissom AFB are in trade, transport and utilities, against 18% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Grissom AFB workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Grissom AFB’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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 717 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Grissom AFB gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Grissom AFB is better than 15% of U.S. towns, #565 of 593 in Indiana. Job access by car holds Grissom AFB’s grade up (ahead of 35% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Grissom AFB could be anywhere from D to B−.
How far Grissom AFB’s workers travel
About 39% 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.
Inside Grissom AFB’s 429 jobs
429 jobs are based in Grissom AFB.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Grissom AFB, 2013 → 2023: 520 → 429. 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 Grissom AFB’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Grissom AFB
On a workday 683 residents head out to work, 34 work right here, and 395 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Grissom AFB on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.60 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.
13% of working residents work in Kokomo
Where Grissom AFB clocks in
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.
The trip to work from Grissom AFB: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Grissom AFB workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,397 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.
In Grissom AFB, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Grissom AFB is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns, #489 of 593 in Indiana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 1,436 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). 4.9% of Grissom AFB households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Grissom AFB’s commuters take a bus or train.
Grissom AFB is 3,885th of 4,618 U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Clark Township IN | 3,026 | $138K | 5.2% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 122 | Georgetown IN | 3,855 | $113K | 2.1% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 190 | Swan Township IN | 2,327 | $112K | 0.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,883 | Union Township IN | 2,421 | $57K | 25.3% | 5.6% | 2% | D |
| 3,884 | Rayne Township PA | 2,738 | $61K | 16.4% | 7.0% | 6% | D |
| 3,885 | Grissom AFB IN | 2,977 | $55K | 14.4% | 7.5% | 5% | D |
| 3,886 | Harbor OR | 2,437 | $55K | 10.8% | 3.5% | 18% | D |
| 3,887 | Bono AR | 2,858 | $56K | 17.1% | 10.8% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,618 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Grissom AFB, 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 Grissom AFB: questions
What is the median household income in Grissom AFB?
$55,104 (±$12,835) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Grissom AFB?
14.4%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Grissom AFB?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Grissom AFB work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kokomo (13%, 13 mi), Indianapolis (7%, 61 mi), Peru (6%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Grissom AFB walkable?
Grissom AFB is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Grissom AFB without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Grissom AFB, from the people who make the trip.
More of Grissom AFB
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.