Jobs, income and commuting in Hamilton, IN
Working residents average 28 minutes each way (Indiana 24, U.S. 26). Jobs and income earn Hamilton B−; getting around on foot earns it C. Only 6% stay in Hamilton for work; outside it, Angola is the main destination (14%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Hamilton apart
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Hamilton
On income, poverty and job access, Hamilton is better than 48% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Hamilton’s grade up (7.3%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 38% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.5%) is left out: Hamilton’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, Hamilton could be anywhere from C to B+.
Goods jobs make up 64% of work in Hamilton
890 jobs are based in Hamilton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hamilton, 2013 → 2023: 693 → 890. 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 Hamilton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Hamilton
On a workday 685 residents head out to work, 41 work right here, and 849 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Hamilton on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.23 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.
Commuting out of Hamilton: the destinations
Where Hamilton clocks in
14% 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.
About 28 minutes to work from Hamilton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hamilton workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 835 commuters (the 6% 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.
The commute from Hamilton, by distance
About 17% 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 Hamilton, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hamilton is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% 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 888 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). 7.1% of Hamilton households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Hamilton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Hamilton places 2,238th of 5,794 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Meridian Hills IN | 1,800 | $212K | 0.8% | 3.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 111 | Galena IN | 1,549 | $128K | 1.8% | 4.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 122 | Ogden Dunes IN | 1,163 | $117K | 3.9% | 2.6% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,236 | Ama LA | 1,483 | $73K | 17.7% | 2.3% | 2% | B− |
| 2,237 | Midtown TN | 1,369 | $61K | 8.3% | 6.1% | 1% | B− |
| 2,238 | Hamilton IN | 1,559 | $70K | 7.3% | 3.5% | 6% | B− |
| 2,239 | Calverton Park MO | 1,134 | $68K | 21.0% | 10.7% | 0% | B− |
| 2,240 | Holley NY | 1,726 | $65K | 10.6% | 3.8% | 6% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Hamilton, 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 Hamilton: questions
What is the median household income in Hamilton?
$69,761 (±$12,637) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hamilton?
7.3%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hamilton?
28 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hamilton work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Angola (14%, 9 mi), Fort Wayne (14%, 33 mi), Auburn (7%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hamilton walkable?
Hamilton is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hamilton without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hamilton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hamilton
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.