Photo: Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Sullivan earn less than those in 91% of U.S. towns
19.6% of residents live below the poverty line; Indiana has 12.3%. For jobs and income Sullivan is better than 19% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in five work in Sullivan; the top destination outside it is Hamilton Township (13%, 1 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Sullivan: the gist
Sullivan trades workers with the towns around it
Sullivan has about as many jobs (1,723) as working residents (1,640), but they are mostly different people: 1,300 residents leave for work each day while 1,383 people come in. Only 20% of the jobs in Sullivan are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Many jobs in Sullivan pay little
26% of the jobs based in Sullivan pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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.
The four measures behind Sullivan’s grade
Unemployment holds Sullivan’s grade up (3.4%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($46,551, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sullivan could be anywhere from D to C+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Sullivan
On a workday 1,300 residents head out to work, 340 work right here, and 1,383 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 (1.05 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.
The kinds of work in Sullivan
1,723 jobs are based in Sullivan.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sullivan, 2013 → 2023: 1,937 → 1,723. 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 Sullivan’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that employ Sullivan’s residents
Where Sullivan clocks in
13% of workers
7% 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.
Sullivan’s commute takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sullivan workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,887 commuters (the 7% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Sullivan
About 26% 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.
Sullivan is a driving town
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,028 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). 7.4% of Sullivan households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sullivan’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sullivan is 3,262nd of 3,962 U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,700 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Clark Township IN | 3,026 | $138K | 5.2% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 97 | Milan Township IN | 4,066 | $120K | 1.3% | 0.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 135 | Georgetown IN | 3,855 | $113K | 2.1% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,260 | Bartlett NH | 3,335 | $60K | 10.5% | 5.3% | 11% | C− |
| 3,261 | Warm Mineral Springs FL | 4,470 | $54K | 14.7% | 1.3% | 1% | C− |
| 3,262 | Sullivan IN | 4,229 | $47K | 19.6% | 3.4% | 21% | C− |
| 3,263 | Wellsville OH | 3,017 | $32K | 32.9% | 3.5% | 9% | C− |
| 3,264 | Dimmitt TX | 4,069 | $46K | 18.1% | 2.6% | 17% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,962 | 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 Sullivan, 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 Sullivan: questions
What is the median household income in Sullivan?
$46,551 (±$8,835) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sullivan?
19.6%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sullivan?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sullivan work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hamilton Township (13%, 1 mi), Terre Haute (7%, 25 mi), Indianapolis (4%, 82 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sullivan walkable?
Sullivan is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sullivan without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sullivan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sullivan
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.