The metropolitan region offers thousands of jobs requiring no postsecondary education and minimal training on the job. The logistics, transportation and distribution industry, a significant contributor to the Central Indiana economy, offers the most. These would seem like ideal opportunities for the less-educated members of the workforce. But the workers remain idle and the jobs remain unfulfilled. Why? Because the workers cannot get to where the jobs are. Growth in the warehousing industry is happening almost entirely in the suburban counties, where expanses of land are available at sites near the interstate highway interchanges. The IndyGo bus service does not serve those locations, so workers need private transportation.

But a significant share of the Indianapolis population does not own cars. The map shows, in dark blue, the neighborhoods where more than 35 percent of households do not own a car. The medium blue shade shows areas where 20 percent to 35 percent of households do not have a car. These are concentrated in Center Township.

Throughout Indianapolis, fewer than one household in 10 lacks a car.

The concentration of homes without private transportation in the center of Indianapolis coincides with higher rates of unemployment and poverty. Job opportunities exist in the region, but many inner-city residents cannot take advantage of those opportunities because they are restricted to the residential inner city where opportunities are fewer.