Charles L. Shrewsbury House · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHousehold incomes in Madison trail those of 72% of U.S. towns
14.9% of residents live below the poverty line, against 12.3% across Indiana. The two grades for Madison are C− for jobs and income and B for walkability. About two in five stay in Madison for work; outside it, Madison Township is the main destination (9%, 2 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Madison, in brief
Madison is where the jobs are
Madison has 7,659 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Madison are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Indiana. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Indiana 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.
Inside Madison’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Madison is better than 25% of U.S. towns, #497 of 593 in Indiana. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Madison’s grade.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Madison could be anywhere from D to B−.
A workday in Madison: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,965 residents head out to work, 1,857 work right here, and 5,802 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Madison on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
About 19 minutes each way, quicker than most of Indiana
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Madison workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,152 commuters (the 7% 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.
Where Madison’s workforce comes from
Where Madison clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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 Madison, 30% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
7,659 jobs are based in Madison.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Madison, 2013 → 2023: 7,458 → 7,659. 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 Madison’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Madison
About 27% 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 commute in Madison is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Madison is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns, #153 of 593 in Indiana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.7% 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 5,558 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). 3.8% of Madison households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Madison’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000, Madison ranks 1,961st of 2,354 on jobs and income
| # | 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% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Whitestown IN | 15,767 | $124K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 101 | McCordsville IN | 13,094 | $111K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 110 | Brown Township IN | 15,523 | $140K | 2.3% | 2.8% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,959 | Bellefontaine OH | 14,151 | $59K | 18.1% | 5.3% | 26% | C− |
| 1,960 | Merrill WI | 9,389 | $53K | 17.4% | 4.2% | 33% | C− |
| 1,961 | Madison IN | 12,304 | $61K | 14.9% | 5.2% | 39% | C− |
| 1,962 | Spring Lake NC | 11,252 | $52K | 17.7% | 5.4% | 6% | C− |
| 1,963 | Vienna Township IN | 10,849 | $53K | 20.4% | 5.0% | 23% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Madison, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
Around Madison: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Madison workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison | – | C− | B | 19 min | $61,183 |
| Madison Township | 9% | C | B− | 20 min | $61,237 |
| Hanover Township | under 1% | C− | B+ | 20 min | $66,019 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Madison Township. Darker towns draw more of Madison’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 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 Madison: questions
What is the median household income in Madison?
$61,183 (±$4,680) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Madison?
14.9%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Madison?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Madison work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison Township (9%, 2 mi), Indianapolis (5%, 81 mi), Hanover (4%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Madison walkable?
Madison is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Madison 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 Madison, from the people who make the trip.
More of Madison
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.