Photo: Public domain · Public domainNotre Dame’s household incomes are among the lowest in the country
Jobs and income earn Notre Dame C−; getting around on foot earns it A. Measured by household income, Notre Dame is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. 49.2% of residents are in poverty, against 12.3% across Indiana.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Notre Dame, in brief
Notre Dame has far more jobs than workers
Notre Dame has 7,601 jobs, 8.1 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 14,000 people are in town, 97% more than the 6,900 who live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
58% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Jobs in Notre Dame have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Notre Dame went from 781 in 2013 to 7,601 in 2023, +873%. The jobs ↓
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 934 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Notre Dame
On income, poverty and job access, Notre Dame is better than 16% of U.S. towns, #554 of 593 in Indiana. Job access by car holds Notre Dame’s grade up (ahead of 76% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($19,886, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (2.6%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Household income is not adjusted: student households count in the median.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Notre Dame stays C−.
Who commutes out of Notre Dame, and who commutes in
On a workday 873 residents head out to work, 61 work right here, and 7,540 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Notre Dame on a workday afternoon, 97% more than live here.
8.1 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.
Where in the region Notre Dame works
About 58% 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.
Notre Dame is a services town
7,601 jobs are based in Notre Dame.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Notre Dame, 2013 → 2023: 781 → 7,601. 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 Notre Dame’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Notre Dame’s workforce comes from
Where Notre Dame clocks in
11% of workers
9% 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.
About 10 minutes to work from Notre Dame
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Notre Dame workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,423 commuters (the 24% 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.
Notre Dame is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Notre Dame is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #25 of 593 in Indiana. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 83.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Indiana, on an EPA index of 7.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,172 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). 50.4% of Notre Dame households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Notre Dame’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 4,800 to 9,300, Notre Dame ranks 2,837th of 3,229 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Worth Township IN | 6,688 | $123K | 4.1% | 0.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 119 | Hidden Valley IN | 5,706 | $121K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 171 | New Whiteland IN | 5,937 | $90K | 3.3% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,835 | Herkimer NY | 7,195 | $49K | 26.4% | 5.5% | 17% | C− |
| 2,836 | Center Township IN | 8,149 | $51K | 15.9% | 6.0% | 23% | C− |
| 2,837 | Notre Dame IN | 6,890 | $20K | 49.2% | 2.6% | 7% | C− |
| 2,838 | Big Rapids MI | 8,623 | $44K | 34.1% | 4.3% | 28% | C− |
| 2,839 | Norway ME | 5,349 | $54K | 20.9% | 4.5% | 12% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,229 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Notre Dame, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
Next door is work for 11% of Notre Dame
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Notre Dame workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notre Dame | – | C− | A | 10 min | $19,886 |
| South Bend | 11% | C | A− | 20 min | $55,786 |
| Clay Township | under 2% | B− | A− | 20 min | $72,406 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to South Bend. Darker towns draw more of Notre Dame’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 Notre Dame: questions
What is the median household income in Notre Dame?
$19,886 (±$11,358) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Notre Dame?
49.2%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Notre Dame?
10 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Notre Dame work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are South Bend (11%, 2 mi), Indianapolis (9%, 133 mi), Mishawaka (4%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Notre Dame walkable?
Notre Dame is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 84% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Notre Dame without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 50% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Notre Dame, from the people who make the trip.
More of Notre Dame
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.