Work & commute · Liberty

Work & commute in Liberty, IN

Most working residents leave Liberty for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Valparaiso (14%), Chesterton (9%) and Portage (7%). Half commute less than 13 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

299 of 4,869 working residents

Typical commute

13 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

32 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

13%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 4,570 Liberty residents head out of town to work, 299 work right here, and 2,986 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Liberty.

4,570live here, work elsewhere

299live and work here

2,986work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Liberty goes to work

Valparaiso5.3 mi away

14%681

Chesterton3.3 mi away

9%461

Portage5.7 mi away

7%324

Gary14.1 mi away

6%271

Porter5 mi away

4%214

Hammond22 mi away

4%191

Chicago, IL36.9 mi away

4%185

Merrillville13.6 mi away

4%180

Michigan City15.2 mi away

4%172

East Chicago20.4 mi away

3%149

Everywhere elseother towns and states

42%2,041

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

How far

How far Liberty commutes

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

43%

35%

13%

43%Under 10 mi

35%10–24 mi

9%25–50 mi

13%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Liberty is a commuter town

0.67jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Liberty are

3,285 jobs are based in Liberty. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Liberty’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Liberty

3,285 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)23%

Trade, transport & utilities4%

Services (health, schools, offices…)73%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month28%

Over $3,333 a month59%

Jobs Liberty residents hold

4,869 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)25%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month64%

+146%

Jobs based in Liberty, 2013 → 2023: 1,336 → 3,285. 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.