Further proof that the Indianapolis economy is vibrant can be found in the fact that the city cannot provide nearly enough people to do the work that is based here. Even if all the unemployed people in Indianapolis were hired, there would still be too few of them. The most recent information shows that nearly 200,000 people drive into Indianapolis each day. That is 28.7 percent of the total Indianapolis workforce.

Indiana’s state income tax form, the IT-40, requires each wage-earner in Indiana to report where he or she works and lives. This allows Indiana to assess county-to-county commuting patterns with a level of detail and accuracy few other states can equal. And the commuting pattern data show that Indianapolis draws a huge commuter workforce.

In total, the tax information shows that, in 2005, 198,507 people worked in Indianapolis but lived elsewhere. Most of the commuters came from the immediately surrounding counties, especially the five illustrated by the map.

Commuters represent a growing share of Indianapolis workers in recent years. Since 2000, the number of people crossing county lines to work in Indianapolis has increased by 18,853. The number of people living and working in Indianapolis declined by 2,360 during that time. So the commuter workforce has grown from 26.6 percent of all Indianapolis workers to 28.7 percent.