Photo: Huwmanbeing · CC BY-SA 4.0Kentland’s household incomes are lower than in 75% of U.S. towns
14.4% of residents are in poverty, where Indiana as a whole has 12.3%. Jobs and income earn Kentland D; getting around on foot earns it A−. About one in five work in Kentland itself; outside it, Lafayette draws the most (7%, 40 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Kentland
Fewer jobs are based in Kentland than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Kentland fell from 3,856 in 2013 to 823 in 2023, −79%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% 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 ↓
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 711 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Kentland gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Kentland is better than 12% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Kentland’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 11% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (20.1%) is left out: Kentland’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, Kentland could be anywhere from D− to C.
What the 823 jobs in Kentland are
823 jobs are based in Kentland.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kentland, 2013 → 2023: 3,856 → 823. 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 Kentland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Kentland
About 31% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Kentland
On a workday 557 residents head out to work, 154 work right here, and 669 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.16 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.
The towns that employ Kentland’s residents
Where Kentland clocks in
5% 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.
Time on the road from Kentland: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kentland workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 694 commuters (the 10% 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.
Kentland is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kentland is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Indiana, on an EPA index of 7.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 775 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). 4.3% of Kentland households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Kentland’s commuters take a bus or train.
4,924th of 6,161: where Kentland ranks among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Meridian Hills IN | 1,800 | $212K | 0.8% | 3.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 117 | Galena IN | 1,549 | $128K | 1.8% | 4.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 131 | Ogden Dunes IN | 1,163 | $117K | 3.9% | 2.6% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,922 | Mikes TX | 1,688 | $49K | 19.8% | 2.9% | <1% | D |
| 4,923 | Anderson Island WA | 1,448 | $80K | 23.1% | 0.0% | 4% | D |
| 4,924 | Kentland IN | 1,631 | $60K | 14.4% | 20.1% | 22% | D |
| 4,925 | Wilson OK | 1,439 | $61K | 17.4% | 2.9% | 7% | D |
| 4,926 | Rutledge TN | 1,411 | $50K | 24.8% | 7.8% | 10% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | 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 Kentland, 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 Kentland: questions
What is the median household income in Kentland?
$59,500 (±$11,895) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kentland?
14.4%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kentland?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kentland work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lafayette (7%, 40 mi), Rensselaer (5%, 20 mi), Goodland (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kentland walkable?
Kentland is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kentland 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 Kentland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kentland
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.