Nearly Half of Indiana Jobs at High Risk from Automation, New Research Finds

STATEWIDE–Nearly half of all jobs in Indiana are at high risk of being replaced by machines, according to new research that places the state among the most vulnerable in the nation.

CJS Automation, a UK-based industrial automation parts supplier, found that 47.57% of Indiana jobs — roughly 1.4 million positions — are in occupations highly susceptible to automation. That figure far exceeds the national average of 41.47% and ranks Indiana third among all states for automation risk.

Only Nevada, at 48.79%, and South Dakota, at 48.65%, face greater exposure.

Routine Work Faces Greatest Threat

The research focuses on a specific type of automation risk: machines and software taking over routine tasks in stores, restaurants, warehouses, and offices. This differs from recent studies examining artificial intelligence threats to office-heavy jobs, where states like Washington and Virginia show the highest exposure.

Indiana’s three most at-risk occupations tell the story of a state built on logistics, retail, and service work. Laborers who move freight and stock by hand account for 103,200 jobs, fast food and counter workers represent 97,290 positions, and retail salespersons hold 83,670 jobs statewide.

“Most of the jobs at the top of this list are built around one task repeated all day, like scanning items at a register or moving boxes across a warehouse,” said Johnathan Craddock, director at CJS Automation. “A machine can take that task over, but somebody still has to keep it running and fix it when it stops, which is skilled work. Indiana has more than a million people who already know those workplaces, so they’re the obvious ones to train for it.”

Indianapolis and Regional Impact

The threat varies across Indiana’s metro areas. Indianapolis shows lower risk than the statewide average, with 45.44% of jobs vulnerable — affecting 477,450 positions. Fort Wayne faces a 47.31% risk rate, while Evansville registers the highest regional exposure at 48.36%.

How the Rankings Were Determined

CJS Automation based its findings on Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data from May 2025, the most recent available, matched to automation probability scores from The Future of Employment, a University of Oxford study by Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne. That 2013 study scored 702 occupations and classified those above 70% probability as high risk.

States Most and Least at Risk

Most at risk: Nevada (48.79%), South Dakota (48.65%), Indiana (47.57%), North Dakota (47.16%), Mississippi (47.14%), Iowa (45.59%), Alabama (45.39%), South Carolina (45.38%), Wyoming (45.35%), and Tennessee (45.18%).

Least at risk: District of Columbia (25.14%), Massachusetts (34.95%), New York (36.08%), Maryland (37.16%), Connecticut (37.69%), Virginia (38.54%), Colorado (39.13%), Washington (39.44%), New Jersey (39.65%), and Alaska (39.71%).

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