Photo: Public domain · Public domainVan Buren Township has lower household incomes than 81% of U.S. towns
Van Buren Township grades D for jobs and income and D for walkability. Below the poverty line: 23.9% of residents, against 12.3% across Indiana. Only 3% work in Van Buren Township; the top destination outside it is Marion (30%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Van Buren Township at work: what stands out
Van Buren Township makes and builds things
87% of the jobs based in Van Buren Township are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Van Buren Township residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 30%. The jobs ↓
Van Buren Township and Marion trade workers both ways
Marion is the top workplace for Van Buren Township residents (30%) and also where the most people who work in Van Buren Township come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
The jobs in Van Buren Township pay better than its residents’ jobs
86% of the jobs based in Van Buren Township pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 59% of the jobs Van Buren Township residents hold. 97% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Van Buren Township. The jobs ↓
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 781 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Van Buren Township’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Van Buren Township is better than 13% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Van Buren Township’s grade up (ahead of 40% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (11.2%) is left out: Van Buren Township’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Van Buren Township could be anywhere from D to C+.
Van Buren Township makes things: 87% of its jobs are in goods
706 jobs are based in Van Buren Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Van Buren Township, 2014 → 2024: 426 → 706. 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 Van Buren Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The places Van Buren Township commutes to
Where Van Buren Township clocks in
30% of workers
6% of workers
5% 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.
In and out of Van Buren Township on a workday
On a workday 758 residents head out to work, 23 work right here, and 683 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 (0.90 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.
About 26 minutes each way for Van Buren Township’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Van Buren Township workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 605 commuters (the 12% 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.
Where in the region Van Buren Township works
About 21% 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 Van Buren Township, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Van Buren Township is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Van Buren Township near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 689 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 Van Buren Township households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Van Buren Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Van Buren Township is 4,858th of 6,085 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Meridian Hills IN | 1,800 | $212K | 0.8% | 3.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 117 | Galena IN | 1,549 | $128K | 1.8% | 4.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 171 | Foxcliff Estates IN | 1,674 | $142K | 2.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,856 | Oblong IL | 1,352 | $58K | 13.9% | 3.3% | 9% | D |
| 4,857 | Dyer TN | 2,333 | $55K | 16.7% | 2.5% | 8% | D |
| 4,858 | Van Buren Township IN | 1,779 | $55K | 23.9% | 11.2% | 3% | D |
| 4,859 | Burdell Township MI | 1,446 | $71K | 19.7% | 4.0% | 1% | D |
| 4,860 | Westville NY | 1,796 | $57K | 12.4% | 4.3% | 1% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | 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 Van Buren Township, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
Next door to Van Buren Township
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Van Buren Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Van Buren Township | – | D | D | 26 min | $54,960 |
| Jackson Township | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Monroe Township | 3% | B | D− | 23 min | $70,175 |
| Washington Township | under 2% | C+ | C− | 18 min | $51,014 |
| Jefferson Township | under 2% | — | — | 33 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Jackson Township and Jefferson Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Monroe Township. Darker towns draw more of Van Buren 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 Van Buren Township: questions
What is the median household income in Van Buren Township?
$54,960 (±$22,746) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Van Buren Township?
23.9%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Van Buren Township?
26 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Van Buren Township work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Marion (30%, 9 mi), Gas City (6%, 10 mi), Indianapolis (5%, 67 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Van Buren Township walkable?
Van Buren Township is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Van Buren Township without a car?
0% 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 Van Buren Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Van Buren 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.