Mitchell Opera House · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHouseholds in Mitchell earn less than those in 89% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Mitchell is better than 8% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (C+). Below the poverty line: 20.7% of residents, where Indiana as a whole has 12.3%. About one in five work in Mitchell; the top destination outside it is Bedford (13%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Mitchell: the gist
Where Mitchell’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Job access by car holds Mitchell’s grade up (ahead of 28% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($48,930, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mitchell could be anywhere from D− to C.
Mitchell on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,382 residents head out to work, 290 work right here, and 1,269 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 (0.93 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.
Out of Mitchell to work: where people go
Where Mitchell clocks in
13% of workers
8% of workers
5% 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.
Jobs in Mitchell: what the 1,559 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mitchell, 2013 → 2023: 2,046 → 1,559. 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 Mitchell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Mitchell, about 20 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mitchell workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,584 commuters (the 6% 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.
Miles to work from Mitchell
About 23% 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.
For most of Mitchell, work means a drive
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% 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 1,687 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). 4.6% of Mitchell households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mitchell’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 2,800 to 5,400, and where Mitchell sits
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 84 | Clark Township IN | 3,026 | $138K | 5.2% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Milan Township IN | 4,066 | $120K | 1.3% | 0.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 136 | Georgetown IN | 3,855 | $113K | 2.1% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,883 | Grafton WV | 4,529 | $40K | 24.9% | 7.4% | 15% | D |
| 3,884 | Nicholson MS | 3,146 | $50K | 25.4% | 12.2% | 2% | D |
| 3,885 | Mitchell IN | 4,019 | $49K | 20.7% | 7.4% | 17% | D |
| 3,886 | Manning SC | 3,829 | $29K | 17.7% | 7.2% | 21% | D |
| 3,887 | Tulia TX | 4,242 | $32K | 31.9% | 4.2% | 33% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,177 | 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 Mitchell, 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 Mitchell: questions
What is the median household income in Mitchell?
$48,930 (±$7,453) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mitchell?
20.7%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mitchell?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mitchell work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bedford (13%, 8 mi), Bloomington (8%, 30 mi), Indianapolis (5%, 74 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mitchell walkable?
Mitchell is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mitchell without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mitchell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mitchell
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.