Ontario has 0.1 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Hardly any work in Ontario itself; outside it, Lagrange draws the most (10%, 4 miles). Ontario has 8 jobs, against 112 working residents. Home is the office for 12% of workers, where Indiana as a whole has 11%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
In and out of Ontario on a workday
On a workday 112 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 8 people come in from elsewhere.
About 200 people are in Ontario on a workday afternoon, 35% fewer than live here.
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 the trip to work from Ontario ends
Where Ontario clocks in
10% 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.
A place that makes things: 100% of Ontario’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ontario, 2013 → 2023: 2 → 8. 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 Ontario’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Ontario
of Ontario workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 132 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Ontario
About 17% 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.
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 Ontario: questions
What is the poverty rate in Ontario?
0.0%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Ontario work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lagrange (10%, 4 mi), Shipshewana (7%, 10 mi), Fort Wayne (7%, 44 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Ontario without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ontario, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ontario
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.