Roanoke has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.5 for each
For jobs and income Roanoke is better than 53% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (B+). There are 421 jobs in Roanoke, against 862 working residents. Only 2% work in Roanoke itself; outside it, Fort Wayne draws the most (29%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Roanoke
Roanoke and Fort Wayne trade workers both ways
Fort Wayne is the top workplace for Roanoke residents (29%) and also where the most people who work in Roanoke come from (22% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Many jobs in Roanoke pay little
34% of the jobs based in Roanoke pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 31% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Roanoke
62% of Roanoke residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 41% of the jobs based in Roanoke pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 98% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
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; with 862 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Roanoke earns its Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Roanoke’s grade up (ahead of 65% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($71,488, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Roanoke could be anywhere from C− to A.
Where Roanoke goes to work
Where Roanoke clocks in
17% 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 kinds of work in Roanoke
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Roanoke, 2013 → 2023: 380 → 421. 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 Roanoke’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Roanoke on a workday
On a workday 846 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 405 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Roanoke on a workday afternoon, 24% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 29 minutes in Roanoke
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Roanoke workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 902 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.
How far it is to work from Roanoke
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.
Roanoke is a driving town
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Indiana, on an EPA index of 6.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 992 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). 3.5% of Roanoke households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Roanoke’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Roanoke is 1,885th among 5,343 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Meridian Hills IN | 1,800 | $212K | 0.8% | 3.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 112 | Galena IN | 1,549 | $128K | 1.8% | 4.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 161 | Foxcliff Estates IN | 1,674 | $142K | 2.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,883 | Columbia NY | 1,584 | $91K | 7.5% | 4.8% | 1% | B− |
| 1,884 | Mekinock Township ND | 2,175 | $74K | 3.5% | 2.9% | 9% | B− |
| 1,885 | Roanoke IN | 1,811 | $71K | 10.9% | 3.9% | 2% | B− |
| 1,886 | Imperial NE | 1,962 | $74K | 7.1% | 1.7% | 42% | B− |
| 1,887 | Milford UT | 1,401 | $82K | 2.3% | 2.3% | 34% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Roanoke, 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 Roanoke: questions
What is the median household income in Roanoke?
$71,488 (±$18,264) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Roanoke?
10.9%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Roanoke?
29 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Roanoke work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Wayne (29%, 15 mi), Huntington (17%, 9 mi), Lafayette Township (5%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Roanoke walkable?
Roanoke is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Roanoke without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Roanoke, from the people who make the trip.
More of Roanoke
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.