Work & commute · Lafayette

Work & commute in Lafayette, IN

Most working residents leave Lafayette for work: only 11% work in town. The top destinations are Fort Wayne (51%), Aboite (5%) and New Haven (3%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

11%

241 of 2,174 working residents

Typical commute

11 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

19 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

10%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 1,933 Lafayette residents head out of town to work, 241 work right here, and 6,711 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Lafayette.

1,933live here, work elsewhere

241live and work here

6,711work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Lafayette goes to work

Fort Wayne11.4 mi away

51%1,101

Lafayette (in town)right here

11%240

Aboite6 mi away

5%111

New Haven15.6 mi away

3%57

Center93.5 mi away

1%25

Union13.5 mi away

1%25

Bluffton15.9 mi away

1%24

Pleasant5.8 mi away

1%20

Warsaw35.7 mi away

1%18

Roanoke5.4 mi away

1%16

Everywhere elseother towns and states

25%537

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

How far

How far Lafayette commutes

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

43%

39%

14%

43%Under 10 mi

39%10–24 mi

5%25–50 mi

14%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Lafayette is a job hub

3.20jobs per working resident

A job hub

3.2 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Lafayette are

6,952 jobs are based in Lafayette. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lafayette’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Lafayette

6,952 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)68%

Trade, transport & utilities15%

Services (health, schools, offices…)17%

$1,250 a month or less5%

$1,251–$3,333 a month18%

Over $3,333 a month77%

Jobs Lafayette residents hold

2,174 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)27%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)54%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month65%

+51%

Jobs based in Lafayette, 2013 → 2023: 4,619 → 6,952. 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.