Photo: Spacini at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Elkhart earn less than those in 79% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Elkhart is better than 6% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (B−). 16.9% of residents are in poverty; Kansas has 11.3%. About one in three work in Elkhart; the top destination outside it is Rolla (8%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Elkhart: the gist
Fewer jobs are based in Elkhart than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Elkhart fell from 859 in 2013 to 506 in 2023, −41%. 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 ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Commutes from Elkhart are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 20 across Kansas. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kansas worker. 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; with 604 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Elkhart’s Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Elkhart’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Elkhart’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, Elkhart could be anywhere from D− to C.
What the 506 jobs in Elkhart are
506 jobs are based in Elkhart.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elkhart, 2013 → 2023: 859 → 506. 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 Elkhart’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Elkhart works
About 35% 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.
About 15 minutes each way for Elkhart’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elkhart workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 541 commuters (the 6% who work from home are left out). Across Kansas: 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.
Elkhart on a workday afternoon
On a workday 407 residents head out to work, 197 work right here, and 309 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 (0.84 per resident).
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 Elkhart’s working residents head each day
Where Elkhart clocks in
4% of workers
4% 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.
Few in Elkhart walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.4% across Kansas.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 577 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). 2.8% of Elkhart households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Elkhart’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Elkhart is 5,128th of 5,760 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 47 | Oxford Township KS | 2,058 | $163K | 1.9% | 2.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Lexington Township KS | 1,512 | $135K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Westwood KS | 1,720 | $118K | 1.9% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,126 | Pine Ridge SD | 2,246 | $53K | 14.5% | 7.9% | 10% | D |
| 5,127 | Guttenberg IA | 1,789 | $58K | 24.7% | 4.6% | 22% | D |
| 5,128 | Elkhart KS | 1,722 | $57K | 16.9% | 0.0% | 33% | D |
| 5,129 | Lone Star TX | 1,391 | $39K | 28.0% | 8.1% | 2% | D |
| 5,130 | Roodhouse Township IL | 1,764 | $59K | 25.8% | 13.3% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Elkhart, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
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 Elkhart: questions
What is the median household income in Elkhart?
$56,771 (±$22,349) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elkhart?
16.9%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elkhart?
15 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elkhart work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rolla (8%, 16 mi), Hugoton (4%, 32 mi), Liberal (4%, 53 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Elkhart walkable?
Elkhart is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elkhart without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Elkhart, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elkhart
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.