Photo: Public domain · Public domainHousehold incomes in Ligonier trail those of 75% of U.S. towns
For 1% of workers, the job is at home, against 11% across Indiana. Poverty touches 6.6% of residents, against 12.3% across Indiana. Ligonier grades B− for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Ligonier apart
Ligonier makes and builds things
64% of the jobs based in Ligonier are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Ligonier residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 62%. The jobs ↓
Ligonier trades workers with the towns around it
Ligonier has about as many jobs (1,676) as working residents (1,962), but they are mostly different people: 1,666 residents leave for work each day while 1,380 people come in. Only 18% of the jobs in Ligonier are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A young workforce
32% of Ligonier’s working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Few Ligonier workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 11% across Indiana. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Ligonier than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Ligonier fell from 2,255 in 2013 to 1,676 in 2023, −26%. 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 ↓
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.
Inside Ligonier’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ligonier is better than 47% of U.S. towns, #357 of 593 in Indiana. The poverty rate holds Ligonier’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($59,359, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ligonier could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Ligonier works in goods: 64% of its jobs
1,676 jobs are based in Ligonier.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ligonier, 2013 → 2023: 2,255 → 1,676. 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 Ligonier’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Ligonier on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,666 residents head out to work, 296 work right here, and 1,380 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 (0.85 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 from Ligonier: about 25 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ligonier workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,769 commuters (the 1% 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.
14% of working residents work in Goshen
Where Ligonier clocks in
14% of workers
6% of workers
6% 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.
Where in the region Ligonier works
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.
Ligonier is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ligonier is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns, #152 of 593 in Indiana. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Indiana, on an EPA index of 6.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,790 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). 10.8% of Ligonier households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ligonier’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Ligonier ranks: 2,182nd of 3,867 U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 92 | Milan Township IN | 4,066 | $120K | 1.3% | 0.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 132 | Hidden Valley IN | 5,706 | $121K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 136 | Georgetown IN | 3,855 | $113K | 2.1% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,180 | Benson NC | 4,660 | $67K | 14.4% | 2.9% | 7% | B− |
| 2,181 | Brookfield MA | 3,516 | $81K | 8.9% | 6.3% | 5% | B− |
| 2,182 | Ligonier IN | 4,710 | $59K | 6.6% | 4.8% | 15% | B− |
| 2,183 | Shippensburg Township PA | 4,343 | $53K | 27.0% | 10.6% | 4% | B− |
| 2,184 | Madison GA | 5,179 | $62K | 12.6% | 1.9% | 29% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,867 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Ligonier, 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 Ligonier: questions
What is the median household income in Ligonier?
$59,359 (±$7,458) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ligonier?
6.6%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ligonier?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ligonier work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Goshen (14%, 14 mi), Elkhart (6%, 25 mi), Topeka (6%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ligonier walkable?
Ligonier is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ligonier without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ligonier, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ligonier
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.