Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHousehold incomes in Monon are lower than in 89% of U.S. towns
23.7% of residents live below the poverty line, where Indiana as a whole has 12.3%. Jobs and income earn Monon D; getting around on foot earns it C−. <1% of workers work from home, against 11% across Indiana. Measured by household income, Monon is behind 89% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Monon, in a few figures
Monon makes and builds things
55% of the jobs based in Monon are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Monon residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 47%. The jobs ↓
Few Monon workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 11% across Indiana. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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; with 750 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Monon’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Monon is better than 6% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Monon’s grade.
Unemployment (4.8%) is left out: Monon’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Monon could be anywhere from D− to C−.
55% of the jobs in Monon make or build things
741 jobs are based in Monon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Monon, 2013 → 2023: 837 → 741. 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 Monon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Monon spends getting to work: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Monon workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 777 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.
How many people are in Monon by day
On a workday 651 residents head out to work, 99 work right here, and 642 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 (0.99 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.
9% of working residents work in Monon Township
Where Monon clocks in
9% of workers
7% 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.
Half of Monon commutes less than 20 miles
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 Monon is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Monon is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Indiana, on an EPA index of 4.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 780 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). 6.0% of Monon households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Monon’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,600, and where Monon sits
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Meridian Hills IN | 1,800 | $212K | 0.8% | 3.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 108 | Galena IN | 1,549 | $128K | 1.8% | 4.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 156 | Foxcliff Estates IN | 1,674 | $142K | 2.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,735 | Grove City FL | 2,106 | $53K | 19.8% | 7.2% | 5% | D |
| 4,736 | Angustura NM | 1,997 | $54K | 26.3% | 2.7% | 1% | D |
| 4,737 | Monon IN | 1,957 | $49K | 23.7% | 4.8% | 13% | D |
| 4,738 | Caney KS | 1,704 | $39K | 17.4% | 6.9% | 30% | D |
| 4,739 | Seneca MO | 2,343 | $46K | 21.4% | 0.8% | 10% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,234 | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Monon, 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 Monon: questions
What is the median household income in Monon?
$49,286 (±$10,908) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Monon?
23.7%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Monon?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. <1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Monon work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Monon Township (9%, 1 mi), Lafayette (8%, 32 mi), Monticello (7%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Monon walkable?
Monon is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 4.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Monon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Monon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Monon
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.