Work & commute · Lake Station

Work & commute in Lake Station, IN

Most working residents leave Lake Station for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Chicago (9%), Portage (7%) and Gary (7%). Half commute less than 12 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

230 of 5,570 working residents

Typical commute

12 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

27 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 5,340 Lake Station residents head out of town to work, 230 work right here, and 1,054 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Lake Station.

5,340live here, work elsewhere

230live and work here

1,054work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Lake Station goes to work

Chicago, IL28.7 mi away

9%498

Portage3.8 mi away

7%412

Gary5 mi away

7%404

Hobart4.6 mi away

7%402

Merrillville8 mi away

6%323

Hammond12.9 mi away

4%249

Valparaiso12.3 mi away

4%246

Lake Station (in town)right here

4%230

East Chicago11.5 mi away

3%177

Crown Point12.6 mi away

3%167

Everywhere elseother towns and states

44%2,462

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

How far

How far Lake Station commutes

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

40%

30%

17%

13%

40%Under 10 mi

30%10–24 mi

17%25–50 mi

13%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Lake Station is a commuter town

0.23jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Lake Station are

1,284 jobs are based in Lake Station. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lake Station’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Lake Station

1,284 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)9%

Trade, transport & utilities26%

Services (health, schools, offices…)65%

$1,250 a month or less24%

$1,251–$3,333 a month40%

Over $3,333 a month36%

Jobs Lake Station residents hold

5,570 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)21%

Trade, transport & utilities23%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month31%

Over $3,333 a month53%

−20%

Jobs based in Lake Station, 2013 → 2023: 1,597 → 1,284. 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.