Work & commute · Cedar Lake

Work & commute in Cedar Lake, IN

Most working residents leave Cedar Lake for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Crown Point (11%), Chicago (7%) and Merrillville (5%). Half commute less than 14 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

454 of 7,304 working residents

Typical commute

14 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

32 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 6,850 Cedar Lake residents head out of town to work, 454 work right here, and 1,445 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Cedar Lake.

6,850live here, work elsewhere

454live and work here

1,445work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Cedar Lake goes to work

Crown Point5.5 mi away

11%774

Chicago, IL34.5 mi away

7%507

Cedar Lake (in town)right here

6%454

Merrillville9.4 mi away

5%379

Munster12.5 mi away

4%320

St. John5 mi away

4%269

Hammond17.3 mi away

4%265

Schererville7.8 mi away

3%255

Gary15.9 mi away

3%195

Hanover2.3 mi away

2%167

Everywhere elseother towns and states

51%3,719

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Cedar Lake commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

36%

37%

15%

11%

36%Under 10 mi

37%10–24 mi

15%25–50 mi

11%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Cedar Lake is a commuter town

0.26jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.26 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Cedar Lake are

1,899 jobs are based in Cedar Lake. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cedar Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Cedar Lake

1,899 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)66%

$1,250 a month or less31%

$1,251–$3,333 a month28%

Over $3,333 a month41%

Jobs Cedar Lake residents hold

7,304 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)22%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)58%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month62%

+28%

Jobs based in Cedar Lake, 2013 → 2023: 1,487 → 1,899. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.