Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHouseholds in Paoli have lower incomes than those in 94% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Paoli are D− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Poverty touches 25.2% of residents, against 12.3% across Indiana. About one in five work in Paoli; the top destination outside it is French Lick (14%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Paoli’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Paoli is better than 4% of U.S. towns, #593 of 593 in Indiana. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Paoli’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Paoli could be anywhere from D− to C.
The workday shuffle in and out of Paoli
On a workday 1,241 residents head out to work, 267 work right here, and 1,797 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,200 people are in Paoli on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.37 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.
Where Paoli goes to work
Where Paoli clocks in
5% 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.
What the 2,064 jobs in Paoli are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Paoli, 2013 → 2023: 2,297 → 2,064. 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 Paoli’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Paoli spends getting to work: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Paoli workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 905 commuters (the 10% 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 distance from Paoli to work
About 25% 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.
For most of Paoli, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Paoli is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns, #319 of 593 in Indiana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% 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 1,000 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). 13.0% of Paoli households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Paoli’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Paoli compares with U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 85 | Clark Township IN | 3,026 | $138K | 5.2% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Milan Township IN | 4,066 | $120K | 1.3% | 0.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 138 | Georgetown IN | 3,855 | $113K | 2.1% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,325 | Lake Placid FL | 2,599 | $47K | 23.8% | 8.1% | 15% | D− |
| 4,326 | Alma GA | 3,400 | $37K | 26.2% | 1.5% | 32% | D− |
| 4,327 | Paoli IN | 3,596 | $43K | 25.2% | 7.8% | 18% | D− |
| 4,328 | Jacksboro TX | 4,735 | $55K | 21.8% | 11.9% | 23% | D− |
| 4,329 | Green Township OH | 3,659 | $48K | 49.4% | 10.3% | 7% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,474 | 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 Paoli, 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 Paoli: questions
What is the median household income in Paoli?
$42,906 (±$9,431) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Paoli?
25.2%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Paoli?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Paoli work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are French Lick (14%, 8 mi), Jasper (5%, 28 mi), Indianapolis (5%, 86 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Paoli walkable?
Paoli is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Paoli without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Paoli, from the people who make the trip.
More of Paoli
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.