Photo: Evking22 · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Loogootee (8.5%) is higher than in 90% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D: better than 5% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #588 of 593 in Indiana.
Walkability C+: more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns · #313 of 593 in Indiana.
Household incomes here are lower than in 88% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 23 minutes each way (Indiana 24, U.S. 26). About one in seven work in Loogootee; the top destination outside it is Jasper (13%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Loogootee, in brief
Loogootee trades workers with the towns around it
Loogootee has about as many jobs (849) as working residents (1,001), but they are mostly different people: 837 residents leave for work each day while 685 people come in. Only 19% of the jobs in Loogootee are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Many jobs in Loogootee pay little
36% of the jobs based in Loogootee pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 30% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Loogootee
50% of Loogootee residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 32% of the jobs based in Loogootee pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 84% leave town for their job. 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.
What’s behind Loogootee’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Loogootee is better than 5% of U.S. towns, #588 of 593 in Indiana. Job access by car holds Loogootee’s grade up (ahead of 26% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (26.4%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Loogootee could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 837 residents head out to work, 164 work right here, and 685 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.
What the 849 jobs in Loogootee are
849 jobs are based in Loogootee. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Loogootee’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Loogootee, 2013 → 2023: 996 → 849. 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.
13% of working residents work in Jasper
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Loogootee clocks in
13% of workers
5% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
About 23 minutes each way, about the IN average
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Loogootee workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,139 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.
Half of Loogootee commutes less than 19 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 24% 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.
Most trips from Loogootee start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Loogootee is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns, #313 of 593 in Indiana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.0% 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 1,183 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). 8.9% of Loogootee households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Loogootee’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Loogootee compares with U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,600
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Loogootee, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Meridian Hills IN | 1,800 | $212K | 0.8% | 3.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Clark Township IN | 3,026 | $138K | 5.2% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 190 | Swan Township IN | 2,327 | $112K | 0.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,908 | Park Hill OK | 3,237 | $47K | 23.7% | 7.5% | 2% | D |
| 4,909 | Clayton GA | 2,089 | $57K | 20.8% | 1.2% | 18% | D |
| 4,910 | Loogootee IN | 2,633 | $50K | 26.4% | 8.5% | 16% | D |
| 4,911 | New Llano LA | 2,015 | $52K | 20.8% | 15.5% | 3% | D |
| 4,912 | Charlevoix MI | 2,325 | $48K | 24.8% | 7.1% | 29% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,278 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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.
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 Loogootee: questions
What is the median household income in Loogootee?
$50,000 (±$14,870) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Loogootee?
26.4%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Loogootee?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Loogootee work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jasper (13%, 20 mi), Washington (5%, 13 mi), Indianapolis (4%, 87 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Loogootee walkable?
Loogootee is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 9.4 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Loogootee without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Loogootee, from the people who make the trip.
More of Loogootee
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.