Photo: Mikehallna · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in New Albany have lower incomes than those in 82% of U.S. towns
About one in five stay in New Albany for work; outside it, Jeffersonville is the main destination (11%, 7 miles). Below the poverty line: 18.9% of residents (Indiana 12.3%). The two grades for New Albany are C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Why New Albany gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, New Albany is better than 31% of U.S. towns, #463 of 593 in Indiana. Job access by car holds New Albany’s grade up (ahead of 87% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, New Albany could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Who leaves New Albany for work, and who comes in
On a workday 13,859 residents head out to work, 3,979 work right here, and 20,579 people come in from elsewhere.
About 44,000 people are in New Albany on a workday afternoon, 18% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.38 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The towns that employ New Albany’s residents
Where New Albany clocks in
11% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 28% of the jobs in New Albany
24,558 jobs are based in New Albany.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in New Albany, 2014 → 2024: 22,308 → 24,558. 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 New Albany’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 20 minutes each way, quicker than most of Indiana
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of New Albany workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 15,309 commuters (the 12% 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.
The commute from New Albany, by distance
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
For most of New Albany, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, New Albany is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns, #120 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 17,394 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 40% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 12% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 56% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 9.3% of New Albany households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of New Albany’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, New Albany is 1,016th among 1,196 U.S. towns of 26,000 to 51,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Zionsville IN | 33,624 | $172K | 3.1% | 2.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Perry Township IN | 39,325 | $112K | 3.4% | 1.3% | 17% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 179 | Brownsburg IN | 34,089 | $102K | 7.5% | 1.6% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,014 | Sebastian FL | 27,352 | $69K | 10.1% | 7.2% | 9% | C |
| 1,015 | Euclid OH | 47,962 | $50K | 16.6% | 6.1% | 10% | C |
| 1,016 | New Albany IN | 37,463 | $55K | 18.9% | 6.0% | 22% | C |
| 1,017 | Stillwater OK | 50,046 | $44K | 27.4% | 6.4% | 48% | C |
| 1,018 | Mount Vernon WA | 35,193 | $76K | 16.1% | 6.0% | 21% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,196 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 New Albany, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
14% of New Albany works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to Louisville (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | New Albany workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Albany | – | C | B+ | 20 min | $54,710 |
| New Albany Township | 1% | B− | B | 20 min | $65,344 |
| Jeffersonville Township | under 2% | B− | A− | 19 min | $62,247 |
| Clarksville | 5% | C+ | A− | 19 min | $60,467 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of New Albany’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 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 New Albany: questions
What is the median household income in New Albany?
$54,710 (±$2,838) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in New Albany?
18.9%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from New Albany?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in New Albany work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jeffersonville (11%, 7 mi), Louisville (8%, 12 mi), Clarksville (5%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is New Albany walkable?
New Albany is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 10.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around New Albany without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 12% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from New Albany, from the people who make the trip.
More of New Albany
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.