Work & commute · Porter

Work & commute in Porter, IN

Most working residents leave Porter for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Valparaiso (12%), Merrillville (8%) and Crown Point (8%). Half commute less than 14 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

131 of 4,397 working residents

Typical commute

14 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

40 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 4,266 Porter residents head out of town to work, 131 work right here, and 480 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Porter.

4,266live here, work elsewhere

131live and work here

480work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Porter goes to work

Valparaiso7.9 mi away

12%536

Merrillville11 mi away

8%351

Crown Point10.9 mi away

8%332

Hobart11.3 mi away

5%240

Gary17.7 mi away

5%221

Chicago, IL42 mi away

5%211

Portage14.1 mi away

4%167

Hammond24.4 mi away

3%149

East Chicago24.3 mi away

3%115

Porter (in town)right here

2%101

Everywhere elseother towns and states

45%1,974

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

How far

How far Porter commutes

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

36%

40%

10%

14%

36%Under 10 mi

40%10–24 mi

10%25–50 mi

14%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Porter is a commuter town

0.14jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Porter are

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

Jobs based in Porter

611 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)12%

Trade, transport & utilities7%

Services (health, schools, offices…)80%

$1,250 a month or less21%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month52%

Jobs Porter residents hold

4,397 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)23%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month62%

+59%

Jobs based in Porter, 2013 → 2023: 384 → 611. 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.