Photo: Public domain · Public domainThere are 1.9 jobs in Van Buren for every working resident, and 669 people commute in
There are 674 jobs in Van Buren; 355 of its residents have a job. Only 1% stay in Van Buren for work; outside it, Marion is the main destination (31%, 9 miles). Home is the office for 3% of workers, where Indiana as a whole has 11%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Van Buren in brief
Van Buren makes and builds things
94% of the jobs based in Van Buren are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Van Buren residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 26%. The jobs ↓
Van Buren is where the jobs are
Van Buren has 674 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 1,100 people are in town, 41% more than the 780 who live here. Day and night ↓
Van Buren and Marion trade workers both ways
Marion is the top workplace for Van Buren residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Van Buren come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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 355 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Goods, not services: 94% of the jobs in Van Buren
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Van Buren, 2013 → 2023: 90 → 674. 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 Van Buren’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Van Buren on a workday
On a workday 350 residents head out to work and 5 work right here.
About 1,100 people are in Van Buren on a workday afternoon, 41% more than live here.
1.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Van Buren’s workforce comes from
Where Van Buren clocks in
31% of workers
7% 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.
The trip to work from Van Buren: about 26 minutes
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 workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 313 commuters (the 3% 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 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.
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 Van Buren: questions
What is the median household income in Van Buren?
$47,692 (±$10,669) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Van Buren?
19.7%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Van Buren?
26 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Van Buren work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Marion (31%, 9 mi), Gas City (7%, 10 mi), Indianapolis (5%, 67 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Van Buren without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Van Buren, from the people who make the trip.
More of Van Buren
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.