The average Johnson County worker made thousands of dollars less than the average Hoosier and average American in 2018.
Employees who worked, but not necessarily lived, in the county made $39,677 on average last year, compared to the average Hoosier, who took home $47,588 and the average American, who took home $57,265. The data comes from the 2018 figures of STATS Indiana, a data-driven extension of Indiana University’s Indiana Business Research Center, which monitors population, employment, poverty and education across the United States.
In several industries, including manufacturing, construction, public administration, health care and finance, Johnson County residents make thousands of dollars less than the average Indiana worker in those respective fields. Out of the top five industries in Johnson County, only administrative and support services, which includes clerical work, personnel administration and general administration, among other jobs, pays higher than the state average.
The allure of higher paying jobs downtown has meant that the northern part of the county has been bedroom communities for several decades, where residents pay less to live in the suburbs but commute to the city for higher wages, said Carol Rogers, who founded STATS Indiana.
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“Johnson County is part of a bedroom community; a fair number of folks are commuting to Indianapolis or Hamilton County or the airport,” Rogers said. “People might be commuting to Indiana University or Cummins. There’s a fair amount of commuting that goes on and sometimes what really matters is where do you bring your paycheck home to live?”
Because it costs less to live in Johnson County than it does to live in Marion or Hamilton counties, wages for people that work in the county are lower, she said.
Retail and food service are the biggest industries in Johnson County, employing more than 16,000 people. Those jobs are also some of the lowest paying. The average retail worker in Johnson County makes $26,191 per year, while the average food service worker makes $16,569. The minimum wage in Indiana is $7.25 per hour, or $15,080 if working full time.
In a few months, Amazon will bring 1,250 jobs to Johnson County, with workers making at least the company minimum of $15 per hour. A full time worker working $15 per hour would make $31,200 per year. The jobs may be classified as manufacturing, but workers are fulfilling orders in a distribution center.
The average manufacturing job in Indiana pays $62,672, and the nationwide average manufacturing salary is $68,585 per year. Although jobs might be becoming more readily available in Johnson County, they often lag behind the wages in Marion and Hamilton Counties, which may have higher paying positions, Rogers said.
While Johnson County has plenty of car dealerships, the manufacturing plants are located outside the county. The Honda dealership is located in Decatur County, while Toyota has a plant in Gibson County. Often those plants have the highest paying jobs when it comes to transportation manufacturing, she said.
For example, the average manufacturing worker in Decatur and Gibson counties make $60,904 and $70,093 per year, respectively. The average Johnson County manufacturing worker earns $53,586 each year.
“When you think about Subaru, Fiat, Chrysler, GM, Honda, Toyota, all those plant location have wages that are considerably higher,” Rogers said. “With Johnson County, even though there’s a strong manufacturing base, more of it will be in the supplier area or other types of manufacturing.”
More than 10 percent of the total workforce in Johnson County works in manufacturing, according to the website, which takes wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For other industries such as health care, Eli Lilly, a major pharmaceutical company, has its headquarters in downtown Indianapolis.
In construction, Marion County has 27,331 jobs that pay an average of $64,562, compared to Johnson County, which has 2,861 jobs that pay an average of $53,707.
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Average wage by industry in 2018:
Johnson County;Indiana;United States
Overall;$39,677;$47,588;$57,265
Manufacturing;$53,586;$62,672;$68,585
Construction;$53,707;$58,406;$62,498
Public administration;$40,483;$48,100;$65,649
Healthcare and social services;$43,409;$49,211;$51,494
Transportation and warehousing;$46,208;$46,897;$54,825
Retail trade;$26,191;$28,004;$32,355
Wholesale Trade;$68,165;$68,495;$77,877
Accommodation and food services;$16,569;$16,634;$21,671
Finance and Insurance;$67,263;$72,333;$109,145
Administrative and support services;$39,123;$31,810;$40,056
Source: STATS Indiana
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Top five industries in Johnson County
Industry;Jobs
Retail Trade;9,228
Accommodation and food services;6,919
Health care and social services;6,810
Manufacturing;5,742
Administrative and support services;3,852
Johnson County Total;55,078
Source: STATS Indiana
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