Photo: Indiana6724 · CC BY-SA 4.0Where Ossian earns its living
Working residents average 31 minutes each way (Indiana 24, U.S. 26). The two grades for Ossian are B for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. About one in ten work in Ossian itself; outside it, Fort Wayne draws the most (33%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Ossian: the figures worth knowing
Ossian and Fort Wayne trade workers both ways
Fort Wayne is the top workplace for Ossian residents (33%) and also where the most people who work in Ossian come from (19% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Ossian makes and builds things
49% of the jobs based in Ossian are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Ossian residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 30%. The jobs ↓
Ossian workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 24 across Indiana. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical worker. 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Ossian
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ossian is better than 57% of U.S. towns, #269 of 593 in Indiana. The poverty rate holds Ossian’s grade up (6.7%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down (4.8%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ossian could be anywhere from C to A.
Commuting out of Ossian: the destinations
Where Ossian clocks in
10% 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.
A place that makes things: 49% of Ossian’s jobs are in goods
1,140 jobs are based in Ossian.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ossian, 2013 → 2023: 916 → 1,140. 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 Ossian’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Ossian spends getting to work: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ossian workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,396 commuters (the 9% 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.
In and out of Ossian on a workday
On a workday 1,310 residents head out to work, 123 work right here, and 1,017 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 (0.80 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.
The commute from Ossian, by distance
About 16% 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.
Getting around Ossian: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ossian is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns, #307 of 593 in Indiana. Both inputs place Ossian near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,541 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). 5.6% of Ossian households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ossian’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ossian is 1,904th of 4,535 U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,700 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Clark Township IN | 3,026 | $138K | 5.2% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | Milan Township IN | 4,066 | $120K | 1.3% | 0.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 140 | Georgetown IN | 3,855 | $113K | 2.1% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,902 | Rock WI | 2,988 | $71K | 21.8% | 0.0% | 1% | B |
| 1,903 | Cherry Valley IL | 2,887 | $75K | 8.3% | 5.4% | 3% | B |
| 1,904 | Ossian IN | 3,448 | $72K | 6.7% | 4.8% | 9% | B |
| 1,905 | Strafford NH | 4,338 | $122K | 8.0% | 4.0% | 7% | B |
| 1,906 | Madison NY | 2,726 | $77K | 12.5% | 0.2% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,535 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Ossian, 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 Ossian: questions
What is the median household income in Ossian?
$71,563 (±$12,246) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ossian?
6.7%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ossian?
31 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ossian work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Wayne (33%, 15 mi), Bluffton (10%, 9 mi), Indianapolis (4%, 92 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ossian walkable?
Ossian is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ossian 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 Ossian, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ossian
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.