Photo: Huw Williams (Huwmanbeing) · Public domainWork, pay and getting to work in Shadeland
Shadeland grades B− for jobs and income and D for walkability. Only 2% work in Shadeland itself; outside it, Lafayette draws the most (38%, 6 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 17 minutes, next to 24 for Indiana and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Shadeland stands out on work
Shadeland makes and builds things
91% of the jobs based in Shadeland are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Shadeland residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 22%. The jobs ↓
A lot of Shadeland works one town over
41% of working residents work in a town that borders Shadeland: Lafayette (38%) and Wabash Township (3%). Next door ↓
Most Shadeland residents work close to home
67% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
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 889 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Shadeland
On income, poverty and job access, Shadeland is better than 46% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Shadeland’s grade up ($82,708, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.0%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (2.2%) is left out: Shadeland’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Shadeland could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Shadeland makes things: 91% of its jobs are in goods
822 jobs are based in Shadeland.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shadeland, 2013 → 2023: 818 → 822. 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 Shadeland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Shadeland works
About 20% 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.
Shadeland on a workday afternoon
On a workday 870 residents head out to work, 19 work right here, and 803 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.
Out of Shadeland to work: where people go
Where Shadeland clocks in
24% of workers
6% 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.
Time on the road from Shadeland: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shadeland workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 800 commuters (the 16% 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.
Driving is how Shadeland gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Shadeland is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Indiana, on an EPA index of 4.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 948 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% 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). 4.3% of Shadeland households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Shadeland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Shadeland is 2,445th of 5,656 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Meridian Hills IN | 1,800 | $212K | 0.8% | 3.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 117 | Galena IN | 1,549 | $128K | 1.8% | 4.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 167 | Foxcliff Estates IN | 1,674 | $142K | 2.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,443 | Hurley MS | 1,305 | $133K | 12.6% | 4.7% | 1% | B− |
| 2,444 | Odell OR | 2,218 | $97K | 4.5% | 9.7% | 12% | B− |
| 2,445 | Shadeland IN | 1,841 | $83K | 15.0% | 2.2% | 2% | B− |
| 2,446 | Navassa NC | 1,889 | $62K | 9.2% | 2.1% | 2% | B− |
| 2,447 | Whitehall WI | 1,621 | $62K | 6.3% | 1.1% | 35% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | 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 Shadeland, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
Next door is work for 41% of Shadeland
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Shadeland workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shadeland | – | B− | D | 17 min | $82,708 |
| Union Township | under 1% | B− | D | 17 min | $82,708 |
| Wabash Township | 3% | B+ | A+ | 16 min | $41,054 |
| Wea Township | under 1% | B | B− | 18 min | $69,142 |
| Wayne Township | under 1% | A | D− | 26 min | $125,213 |
| Lafayette | 38% | C+ | A | 16 min | $53,716 |
| Fairfield Township | under 1% | C+ | A | 17 min | $54,354 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Lafayette. Darker towns draw more of Shadeland’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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Shadeland: questions
What is the median household income in Shadeland?
$82,708 (±$22,840) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shadeland?
15.0%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shadeland?
17 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shadeland work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lafayette (38%, 6 mi), West Lafayette (24%, 7 mi), Indianapolis (6%, 58 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Shadeland walkable?
Shadeland is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shadeland without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shadeland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shadeland
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.