Work & commute · Polk

Work & commute in Polk, IN

Most working residents leave Polk for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are New Albany (11%), Salem (9%) and Jeffersonville (8%). Half commute less than 19 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

45 of 1,036 working residents

Typical commute

19 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

42 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 991 Polk residents head out of town to work, 45 work right here, and 324 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Polk.

991live here, work elsewhere

45live and work here

324work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Polk goes to work

New Albany16.3 mi away

11%111

Salem9.8 mi away

9%89

Jeffersonville18.8 mi away

8%82

Polk (in town)right here

4%44

Clarksville17.1 mi away

3%29

Washington10.4 mi away

2%24

Seymour29.1 mi away

2%23

Center86.9 mi away

2%22

Wood5.9 mi away

2%21

Bloomington53.9 mi away

2%20

Everywhere elseother towns and states

55%571

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

How far

How far Polk commutes

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

19%

45%

28%

19%Under 10 mi

45%10–24 mi

8%25–50 mi

28%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Polk is a commuter town

0.36jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Polk are

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

Jobs based in Polk

369 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)28%

Trade, transport & utilities2%

Services (health, schools, offices…)70%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month35%

Over $3,333 a month47%

Jobs Polk residents hold

1,036 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)31%

Trade, transport & utilities23%

Services (health, schools, offices…)46%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month29%

Over $3,333 a month56%

+0%

Jobs based in Polk, 2013 → 2023: 368 → 369. 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.