Photo: User:Vmenkov · CC BY-SA 3.0For more than half of its working residents, Perry Township is a commute to Bloomington
The two grades for Perry Township are B for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. At home: 19% of workers have no commute at all (Indiana 11%). About one in five work in Perry Township itself; outside it, Bloomington draws the most (52%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Perry Township
More than half of Perry Township works in Bloomington
10,125 working residents, 52%, have their main job in Bloomington, 3.1 miles away. That’s 3 times as many as work in Perry Township itself. The commute map ↓
Perry Township trades workers with the towns around it
Perry Township has about as many jobs (17,966) as working residents (19,509), but they are mostly different people: 15,652 residents leave for work each day while 14,109 people come in. Only 21% of the jobs in Perry Township are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Most Perry Township residents work close to home
65% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
A lot of Perry Township works from home
19% of Perry Township workers work from home, against 11% across Indiana. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Perry Township are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Indiana. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Indiana 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.
The four measures behind Perry Township’s grade
On family income, poverty and job access, Perry Township is better than 60% of U.S. towns, #247 of 593 in Indiana. Family income holds Perry Township’s grade up ($105,171, U.S. $99,999); the poverty rate pulls it down (12.2%, U.S. 11.9%). It also does well on job access by car.
19% of Perry Township’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (20% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 12.2%, against 21.4% for all residents. Unemployment (5.1%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($105,171), since student households pull the household median down ($66,567).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Perry Township could be anywhere from B− to B+.
Where the trip to work from Perry Township ends
Where Perry Township clocks in
52% of workers
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.
The daily commute in and out of Perry Township
On a workday 15,652 residents head out to work, 3,857 work right here, and 14,109 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 (0.92 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.
How far Perry Township goes to work
About 18% 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.
Each way, about 19 minutes from Perry Township
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Perry Township workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 21,860 commuters (the 19% 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 kinds of work in Perry Township
17,966 jobs are based in Perry Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Perry Township, 2013 → 2023: 16,818 → 17,966. 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 Perry Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Perry Township is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Perry Township is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns, #7 of 593 in Indiana. Both inputs place Perry Township 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 27,078 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 78% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 34% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 9.5% of Perry Township households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Perry Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Perry Township ranks: 501st of 837 U.S. towns of 37,000 to 71,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Liberty Township OH | 40,625 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Perry Township IN | 39,325 | $112K | 3.4% | 1.3% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Westfield IN | 66,258 | $123K | 3.6% | 2.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Westfield Washington Township IN | 70,020 | $121K | 4.4% | 2.8% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 499 | Azusa CA | 47,447 | $91K | 13.2% | 6.1% | 7% | B |
| 500 | Janesville WI | 66,929 | $73K | 9.0% | 4.1% | 40% | B |
| 501 | Perry Township IN | 52,290 | $67K | 21.4% | 5.1% | 20% | B |
| 502 | Middletown CT | 48,439 | $79K | 12.0% | 4.7% | 17% | B |
| 503 | La Porte TX | 37,983 | $81K | 12.2% | 5.4% | 10% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 837 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Perry Township, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
How Perry Township compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Bloomington Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Perry Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perry Township | – | B | A+ | 19 min | $66,567 |
| Van Buren Township | 1% | B− | B+ | 19 min | $74,397 |
| Clear Creek Township | under 1% | A− | D | 26 min | $84,150 |
| Salt Creek Township | under 1% | C | D | 25 min | $89,861 |
| Bloomington Township | 3% | C+ | A+ | 17 min | $44,748 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Perry Township’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.
- Students. 19% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Perry Township: questions
What is the median household income in Perry Township?
$66,567 (±$3,832) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Perry Township?
21.4% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 12.2%. Indiana: 12.3%.
How long is the commute from Perry Township?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Perry Township work?
20% work in town.
Is Perry Township walkable?
Perry Township is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 11.9 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Perry Township without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 34% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Perry Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Perry Township
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.