Otterbein has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs & income C+: better than 44% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability C: more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are lower than in 68% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 25 minutes each way (Indiana 24, U.S. 26). Only 2% work in Otterbein; the top destination outside it is Lafayette (32%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Otterbein, in brief
What’s behind Otterbein’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Otterbein is better than 44% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Otterbein’s grade up (8.8%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($63,698, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (3.3%) is left out: Otterbein’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, Otterbein could be anywhere from C to B.
32% of working residents work in Lafayette
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Otterbein clocks in
15% of workers
7% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Otterbein quiets down on a workday
On a workday 516 residents head out to work, 12 work right here, and 268 people come in from elsewhere.
About 890 people are in Otterbein on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
0.53 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 2023, primary jobs.
Otterbein makes things: 59% of its jobs are in goods
280 jobs are based in Otterbein. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Otterbein’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Otterbein, 2013 → 2023: 213 → 280. 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.
About 25 minutes each way, about the IN average
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Otterbein workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 716 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Indiana: 85% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Half of Otterbein commutes less than 15 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
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 2023.
Most trips from Otterbein start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Otterbein is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Otterbein 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 747 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). 10.4% of Otterbein households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Otterbein’s commuters take a bus or train.
Otterbein is 1,465th of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Otterbein, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Ogden Dunes IN | 1,163 | $117K | 3.9% | 2.6% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 108 | Campbell Township IN | 1,172 | $122K | 0.0% | 7.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 138 | Greenville IN | 1,452 | $135K | 5.6% | 4.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,463 | Township 3 KS | 1,300 | $72K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 32% | C+ |
| 1,464 | Woodstock NH | 1,439 | $86K | 6.2% | 1.7% | 8% | C+ |
| 1,465 | Otterbein IN | 1,139 | $64K | 8.8% | 3.3% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,466 | Auglaize Township OH | 1,369 | $61K | 4.0% | 0.0% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,467 | Riverdale Park CA | 1,137 | $62K | 10.7% | 0.0% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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.
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 Otterbein: questions
What is the median household income in Otterbein?
$63,698 (±$8,445) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Otterbein?
8.8%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Otterbein?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Otterbein work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lafayette (32%, 13 mi), West Lafayette (15%, 9 mi), Indianapolis (7%, 70 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Otterbein walkable?
Otterbein is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Otterbein without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Otterbein, from the people who make the trip.
More of Otterbein
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.