With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Wolcott works elsewhere
There are 259 jobs in Wolcott for 476 working residents. Only 6% stay in Wolcott for work; outside it, Lafayette is the main destination (14%, 27 miles). At home: 4% of workers have no commute at all (Indiana 11%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Wolcott and work: the main findings
Wolcott’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Wolcott is Lafayette, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (69) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Wolcott than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Wolcott fell from 478 in 2013 to 259 in 2023, −46%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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; with 476 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How many miles Wolcott commutes
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.
What Wolcott’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wolcott, 2013 → 2023: 478 → 259. 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 Wolcott’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Wolcott on a workday afternoon
On a workday 448 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 231 people come in from elsewhere.
About 750 people are in Wolcott on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Wolcott: the destinations
Where Wolcott clocks in
6% 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.
Wolcott’s commute takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wolcott workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 500 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.
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 Wolcott: questions
What is the median household income in Wolcott?
$66,875 (±$18,123) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wolcott?
11.5%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wolcott?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wolcott work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lafayette (14%, 27 mi), Princeton Township (10%, 2 mi), Indianapolis (6%, 83 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Wolcott without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wolcott, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wolcott
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.