Jobs and earnings in Harlan, and the trip to work
Jobs and income earn Harlan B+; getting around on foot earns it D. Only 5% work in Harlan itself; outside it, Fort Wayne draws the most (30%, 14 miles). The average commute takes 29 minutes each way (Indiana 24, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Harlan stands out on work
Harlan and Fort Wayne trade workers both ways
Fort Wayne is the top workplace for Harlan residents (30%) and also where the most people who work in Harlan come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Harlan makes and builds things
62% of the jobs based in Harlan are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Harlan residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 34%. The jobs ↓
Harlan workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 29 minutes each way, against 24 across Indiana. Over a year that’s about 222 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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 572 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Harlan’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Harlan is better than 72% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Harlan’s grade up (5.6%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($75,313, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (5.9%) is left out: Harlan’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Harlan could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Where Harlan goes to work
Where Harlan clocks in
5% 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.
In Harlan, 62% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
379 jobs are based in Harlan.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harlan, 2013 → 2023: 338 → 379. 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 Harlan’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Harlan spends getting to work: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harlan workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 653 commuters (the 11% 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 daily commute in and out of Harlan
On a workday 546 residents head out to work, 26 work right here, and 353 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Harlan on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.66 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.
Half of Harlan commutes less than 13 miles
About 22% 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.
Harlan is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Harlan is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Harlan 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 731 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 2.5% of Harlan households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Harlan’s commuters take a bus or train.
Harlan next to U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700: 755th of 4,866 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% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 753 | Indian Shores FL | 1,167 | $109K | 13.1% | 0.0% | 9% | B+ |
| 754 | Center Township OH | 1,084 | $83K | 3.0% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 755 | Harlan IN | 1,254 | $75K | 5.6% | 5.9% | 5% | B+ |
| 756 | Spring Lake Township IL | 1,656 | $87K | 4.2% | 4.2% | 1% | B+ |
| 757 | Hendricks Township IN | 1,195 | $95K | 7.8% | 1.3% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Harlan, 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 Harlan: questions
What is the median household income in Harlan?
$75,313 (±$21,825) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Harlan?
5.6%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Harlan?
29 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Harlan work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Wayne (30%, 14 mi), New Haven (5%, 10 mi), Springfield Township (5%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Harlan walkable?
Harlan is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Harlan without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harlan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Harlan
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.