Where Union Township earns its living
Only 3% work in Union Township itself; outside it, Lafayette draws the most (39%, 6 miles). Union Township grades B− for jobs and income and D for walkability. A typical one-way commute lasts 17 minutes, where Indiana has 24 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Union Township
Union Township makes and builds things
91% of the jobs based in Union Township are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Union Township residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 25%. The jobs ↓
A lot of Union Township works one town over
44% of working residents work in a town that borders Union Township: Lafayette (39%), Shadeland (3%) and Wabash Township (2%). Next door ↓
Most Union Township residents work close to home
68% 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 925 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Union Township’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Union Township is better than 46% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Union Township’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: Union Township’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, Union Township could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Factories, building and farms: 91% of the jobs in Union Township
809 jobs are based in Union Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Union Township, 2014 → 2024: 765 → 809. 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 Union Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Union Township, by distance
About 19% 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.
Union Township on a workday afternoon
On a workday 897 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 781 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 (0.87 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.
Out of Union Township to work: where people go
Where Union Township clocks in
24% of workers
7% 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 trip to work from Union Township: 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 Union Township 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.
Few in Union Township walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Union Township 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 Union Township households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Union Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Union Township is 2,449th 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% | 1% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,447 | Whitehall WI | 1,621 | $62K | 6.3% | 1.1% | 31% | B− |
| 2,448 | New Athens Township IL | 2,396 | $52K | 9.2% | 3.7% | 5% | B− |
| 2,449 | Union Township IN | 1,841 | $83K | 15.0% | 2.2% | 3% | B− |
| 2,450 | Antrim Township MI | 2,115 | $71K | 10.0% | 4.1% | 1% | B− |
| 2,451 | Lincoln VT | 1,400 | $97K | 7.5% | 4.8% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Union Township, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
Work next door: 44% of Union Township’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Union Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union Township | – | B− | D | 17 min | $82,708 |
| Shadeland | 3% | B− | D | 17 min | $82,708 |
| Wabash Township | 2% | 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 | 39% | 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 Union 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 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 Union Township: questions
What is the median household income in Union Township?
$82,708 (±$22,840) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Union Township?
15.0%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Union Township?
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 Union Township work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lafayette (39%, 6 mi), West Lafayette (24%, 7 mi), Indianapolis (7%, 58 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Union Township walkable?
Union Township 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 Union Township 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 Union Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Union Township
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.