Photo: Chris Light · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Rensselaer have lower incomes than those in 73% of U.S. towns
15.3% of residents are in poverty, where Indiana as a whole has 12.3%. The two grades for Rensselaer are C− for jobs and income and B for walkability. About one in four stay in Rensselaer for work; outside it, Lafayette is the main destination (6%, 41 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Income, poverty and work: Rensselaer’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Rensselaer is better than 19% of U.S. towns, #535 of 593 in Indiana. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Rensselaer’s grade.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rensselaer could be anywhere from D to B−.
Rensselaer fills up on a workday
On a workday 1,992 residents head out to work, 730 work right here, and 2,623 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,300 people are in Rensselaer on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.23 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Rensselaer’s residents
Where Rensselaer clocks in
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 3,353 jobs based in Rensselaer
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rensselaer, 2014 → 2024: 3,683 → 3,353. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Rensselaer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 21 minutes each way for Rensselaer’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rensselaer workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,363 commuters (the 6% 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.
Rensselaer’s commute, mile by mile
About 24% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
For most of Rensselaer, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rensselaer is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns, #170 of 593 in Indiana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% 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 2,513 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). 2.3% of Rensselaer households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Rensselaer’s commuters take a bus or train.
Rensselaer places 2,921st of 3,476 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 4,000 to 7,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Milan Township IN | 4,066 | $120K | 1.3% | 0.0% | 8% | A+ |
| 79 | Worth Township IN | 6,688 | $123K | 4.1% | 0.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 127 | Hidden Valley IN | 5,706 | $121K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,919 | Piedmont SC | 5,462 | $53K | 25.4% | 8.1% | 1% | C− |
| 2,920 | Clarkdale AZ | 4,806 | $47K | 18.6% | 2.7% | 4% | C− |
| 2,921 | Rensselaer IN | 5,681 | $60K | 15.3% | 5.8% | 27% | C− |
| 2,922 | Ste. Genevieve MO | 5,065 | $48K | 12.8% | 5.3% | 31% | C− |
| 2,923 | Rusk TX | 5,568 | $53K | 8.5% | 11.4% | 22% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,476 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Rensselaer, 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 2024, 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 Rensselaer: questions
What is the median household income in Rensselaer?
$60,331 (±$4,639) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rensselaer?
15.3%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rensselaer?
21 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rensselaer work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lafayette (6%, 41 mi), Marion Township (4%, 2 mi), Remington (4%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Rensselaer walkable?
Rensselaer is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rensselaer without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rensselaer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rensselaer
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.