Photo: Chris Light · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Winamac are lower than in 91% of U.S. towns
About one in three stay in Winamac for work; outside it, Monroe Township is the main destination (8%, 2 miles). 23.9% of residents live below the poverty line, against 12.3% across Indiana. The two grades for Winamac are C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Winamac and work: the main findings
Winamac is where the jobs are
Winamac has 2,467 jobs, 2.3 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,700 people are in town, 58% more than the 2,400 who live here. Day and night ↓
Winamac makes and builds things
44% of the jobs based in Winamac are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Winamac residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 34%. The jobs ↓
Few Winamac workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 11% across Indiana. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Winamac
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Winamac is better than 29% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Winamac’s grade up (hardly any, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Winamac could be anywhere from C− to C+.
The daily commute in and out of Winamac
On a workday 728 residents head out to work, 363 work right here, and 2,104 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,700 people are in Winamac on a workday afternoon, 58% more than live here.
2.3 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.
Factories, building and farms: 44% of the jobs in Winamac
2,467 jobs are based in Winamac.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Winamac, 2013 → 2023: 2,613 → 2,467. 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 Winamac’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Winamac: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Winamac workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,205 commuters (the 4% 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.
The towns that send workers to Winamac
Where Winamac clocks in
3% 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.
Half of Winamac commutes less than 15 miles
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most of Winamac commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Winamac is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Winamac 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 1,260 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). 15.1% of Winamac households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Winamac’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,281st of 4,995: where Winamac ranks among U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,200
| # | 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Meridian Hills IN | 1,800 | $212K | 0.8% | 3.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Clark Township IN | 3,026 | $138K | 5.2% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 176 | Swan Township IN | 2,327 | $112K | 0.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,279 | Priest River ID | 1,851 | $59K | 5.0% | 1.9% | 10% | C |
| 3,280 | Carbon Cliff IL | 1,810 | $56K | 19.1% | 4.9% | 2% | C |
| 3,281 | Winamac IN | 2,365 | $47K | 23.9% | 0.0% | 33% | C |
| 3,282 | Madison WV | 2,678 | $59K | 12.9% | 3.6% | 10% | C |
| 3,283 | Ovid Township MI | 2,217 | $73K | 8.9% | 7.1% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,995 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Winamac, 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 Winamac: questions
What is the median household income in Winamac?
$47,083 (±$6,280) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Winamac?
23.9%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Winamac?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Winamac work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Monroe Township (8%, 2 mi), Rochester (3%, 21 mi), Indianapolis (3%, 91 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Winamac walkable?
Winamac is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Winamac without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Winamac, from the people who make the trip.
More of Winamac
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.