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Work & commute in Madison · A commuter town

98% of Madison’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Madison for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Center (17%), Wayne (7%) and Mooresville (7%). Half commute less than 14 miles.

Work in town
2%
118 of 5,346 working residents
Typical commute
14 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
29 min
More than IN (24 min)
Work from home
12%
More than IN (11%)
Jobs based here
501
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Madison?

Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · The commute map

17% of working residents work in Center

A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.

Mooresville: 387 residents work here (7%)FranklinGreenwood: 193 residents work here (4%)Plainfield: 292 residents work here (5%)MadisonBrownCenter: 893 residents work here (17%)Perry: 250 residents work here (5%)Washington: 187 residents work here (3%)Wayne: 396 residents work here (7%)ClayHarrisonWhite RiverDecatur: 216 residents work here (4%)Pike: 187 residents work here (3%)Warren: 188 residents work here (4%)IndianapolisCenterWayneMooresvillePlainfieldPerryDecaturMadison
1
Center15.6 mi away
17%893
2
Wayne13 mi away
7%396
3
Mooresville3.9 mi away
7%387
4
Plainfield8.4 mi away
5%292
5
Perry9.8 mi away
5%250
6
Decatur6.5 mi away
4%216
7
Greenwood10.3 mi away
4%193
8
Warren19.8 mi away
4%188
9
Washington21.7 mi away
3%187
10
Pike20.1 mi away
3%187
Everywhere elseother towns and states
40%2,157
The top trips

Where Madison clocks in

Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.

The jobs

Madison makes things: 33% of its jobs are in goods

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

Jobs based in MadisonJobs Madison residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms33%19%
Trade, transport & utilities17%26%
Services: health, schools, offices50%55%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less18%13%
$1,251–$3,333 a month26%23%
Over $3,333 a month57%64%

Who does it

29 or younger21%23%
30 to 5448%52%
55 and older31%25%
+24%

Jobs based in Madison, 2013 → 2023: 403 → 501. 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.

Time on the road

About 29 minutes each way, longer than most of Indiana

From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.

A year of commuting
225 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Madison29 min
Indiana24 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
12%

of Madison workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10

How Madison ranks on commute time →

Day and night

Madison quiets down on a workday

On a workday 5,228 residents head out to work, 118 work right here, and 383 people come in from elsewhere.

5,228live here, work elsewhere
118live and work here
383work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night10,000
Workday5,400
10,000live here− 5,200head out to work+ 380come in to work= 5,400on a workday

About 5,400 people are in Madison on a workday afternoon, 47% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.09jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

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

Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.

How far

Half of Madison commutes less than 14 miles

Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

10 mi25 mi30 miCenter: 17% · 15.6 miWayne: 7% · 13 miMooresville: 7% · 3.9 miPlainfield: 5% · 8.4 miPerry: 5% · 9.8 miDecatur: 4% · 6.5 miGreenwood: 4% · 10.3 miWarren: 4% · 19.8 miWashington: 3% · 21.7 miPike: 3% · 20.1 miCenter 17%Wayne 7%Mooresville 7%Plainfield 5%Perry 5%Madison
MadisonTop destinations (size = commuters)
29%Under 10 mi1,542 residents
52%10–24 mi2,771 residents
11%25–50 mi605 residents
8%Over 50 mi423 residents

Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.

Next door

11% of Madison works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Mooresville (7%). Darker towns draw more of Madison’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Every worker, home to work. The 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 says. A 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 surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
  • Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
Beyond the commute

More of Madison

Madison home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Madison, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
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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.

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