Montpelier Carnegie Library · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHouseholds in Montpelier have lower incomes than those in 93% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Montpelier D; getting around on foot earns it B−. 21.2% of residents are in poverty (Indiana 12.3%). Only 6% stay in Montpelier for work; outside it, Bluffton is the main destination (10%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Montpelier stands out on work
Inside Montpelier’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Montpelier is better than 7% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Montpelier’s grade up (ahead of 28% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($45,250, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (2.5%) is left out: Montpelier’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, Montpelier could be anywhere from D− to D.
How long Montpelier spends getting to work: about 34 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Montpelier workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 720 commuters (the 5% 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.
Who leaves Montpelier for work, and who comes in
On a workday 576 residents head out to work, 37 work right here, and 240 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Montpelier on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
0.45 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Out of Montpelier to work: where people go
Where Montpelier clocks in
10% 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.
Montpelier makes things: 31% of its jobs are in goods
277 jobs are based in Montpelier.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Montpelier, 2014 → 2024: 358 → 277. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Montpelier’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Montpelier to work
About 22% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Montpelier, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Montpelier is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Indiana, on an EPA index of 6.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 758 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). 8.1% of Montpelier households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Montpelier’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 6,308 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000, Montpelier comes 5,498th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Meridian Hills IN | 1,800 | $212K | 0.8% | 3.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 112 | Galena IN | 1,549 | $128K | 1.8% | 4.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Ogden Dunes IN | 1,163 | $117K | 3.9% | 2.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,496 | Siesta Acres TX | 1,573 | $35K | 20.7% | 12.1% | <1% | D |
| 5,497 | Norris City IL | 1,083 | $42K | 14.6% | 10.3% | 13% | D |
| 5,498 | Montpelier IN | 1,489 | $45K | 21.2% | 2.5% | 6% | D |
| 5,499 | South Shore KY | 1,035 | $29K | 23.1% | 23.0% | 6% | D |
| 5,500 | Edmonton KY | 1,713 | $51K | 26.5% | 5.3% | 24% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Montpelier, 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 2024, 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 Montpelier: questions
What is the median household income in Montpelier?
$45,250 (±$6,870) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Montpelier?
21.2%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Montpelier?
34 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Montpelier work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bluffton (10%, 15 mi), Marion (7%, 20 mi), Hartford City (6%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Montpelier walkable?
Montpelier is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Montpelier without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Montpelier, from the people who make the trip.
More of Montpelier
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.