Photo: JoeyBLS · Public domainUnemployment in Lake Station (16.3%) is among the highest in the country
Measured by household income, Lake Station is behind 75% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Lake Station is better than 28% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (B−). Only 4% work in Lake Station; the top destination outside it is Chicago (9%, 29 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Lake Station
A lot of Lake Station workers cross into Illinois
18% of Lake Station workers work outside Indiana, most of them in Illinois, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
Lake Station is a place people come home to
There are 1,323 jobs based in Lake Station, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Lake Station has about 8,700 people in it, 33% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Lake Station’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lake Station is Chicago, IL, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (487) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Lake Station
56% of Lake Station residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 37% of the jobs based in Lake Station pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 96% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
What’s behind Lake Station’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Lake Station’s grade up (ahead of 87% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lake Station could be anywhere from C− to C+.
The towns that employ Lake Station’s residents
Where Lake Station clocks in
9% of workers
8% of workers
8% 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.
How many people are in Lake Station by day
On a workday 5,388 residents head out to work, 203 work right here, and 1,120 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,700 people are in Lake Station on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer than live here.
0.24 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 2024, primary jobs.
Where in the region Lake Station works
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.
The kinds of work in Lake Station
1,323 jobs are based in Lake Station.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Station, 2014 → 2024: 1,655 → 1,323. 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 Lake Station’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Lake Station takes about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Station workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,700 commuters (the 4% 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 in Lake Station is mostly behind the wheel
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 4,917 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). 7.9% of Lake Station households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lake Station’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,018th of 2,526: where Lake Station ranks among U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Whitestown IN | 15,767 | $124K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | McCordsville IN | 13,094 | $111K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 114 | Brown Township IN | 15,523 | $140K | 2.3% | 2.8% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,016 | Valley AL | 10,294 | $52K | 14.9% | 3.5% | 10% | C |
| 2,017 | Dade City FL | 10,173 | $70K | 11.2% | 8.1% | 9% | C |
| 2,018 | Lake Station IN | 12,977 | $60K | 15.4% | 16.3% | 4% | C |
| 2,019 | Town of Pecos TX | 10,386 | $61K | 16.9% | 2.6% | 29% | C |
| 2,020 | Wabash IN | 10,190 | $53K | 14.0% | 4.4% | 39% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Lake Station, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
15% of Lake Station works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Hobart (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake Station workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Station | – | C | B− | 27 min | $59,591 |
| Hobart | 8% | B | B− | 27 min | $75,160 |
| Gary | 7% | C− | B | 26 min | $38,731 |
| New Chicago | under 3% | C+ | C | 23 min | $57,313 |
| Hobart Township | under 3% | C+ | B− | 27 min | $70,273 |
| Calumet Township | under 3% | C− | B | 27 min | $46,882 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lake Station’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Lake Station: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Station?
$59,591 (±$7,300) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Station?
15.4%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Station?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake Station work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (9%, 29 mi), Portage (8%, 4 mi), Hobart (8%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Lake Station walkable?
Lake Station is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Station without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Station, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake Station
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.