Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Indiana

Indiana, by road

Indiana is a place where four Interstates cross at Indianapolis, which is why it calls itself the Crossroads of America. Pallets here follow I-65, I-69, I-70, I-74 and I-80, and the distance they travel empty is the cost a nestable cuts.

The counties with the most warehousing jobs are Boone (12,552), Hendricks (11,774) and Marion (7,943), which is 47.8 percent of the state's 67,506. It shares a land border with Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois.

Warehousing in numbers

Refrigerated space matters because a freezer is hard on plastic; the cold guide says what to ask for. Indiana held 98 million cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse capacity on October 1, 2025.

Reading the numbers

• Boone County has 12,552 warehousing jobs, 18.6 percent of Indiana's 67,506, the most in the state.
• Hendricks County has 11,774 warehousing jobs, 17.4 percent of Indiana's 67,506, 778 fewer than Boone County.
• Marion County has 7,943 warehousing jobs, 11.8 percent of Indiana's 67,506, 4,609 fewer than Boone County.
• Motor vehicle parts manufacturing employs 52,146 people in Indiana, 0.77 for every warehousing job.
• Motor vehicle manufacturing employs 21,069 people in Indiana, 0.31 for every warehousing job.
• Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing employs 23,709 people in Indiana, 0.35 for every warehousing job.
• Plastics product manufacturing employs 33,122 people in Indiana, 0.49 for every warehousing job.
• Chemical manufacturing employs 38,178 people in Indiana, 0.57 for every warehousing job.
• Indiana holds 3.55 percent of US warehousing jobs, about one in every 28, spread over 539 establishments averaging 125 jobs each.
• Indianapolis accounts for 41,067 warehousing jobs, 60.8 percent of Indiana's.
• Michigan has 40,753 warehousing jobs, 0.60 times the 67,506 in Indiana.
• Ohio has 98,354 warehousing jobs, 1.46 times the 67,506 in Indiana.
• Kentucky has 38,281 warehousing jobs, 0.57 times the 67,506 in Indiana.
• Illinois has 80,071 warehousing jobs, 1.19 times the 67,506 in Indiana.

Who ships pallets here

In Indiana, motor vehicle parts manufacturing employs 52,146. Suppliers weigh the dynamic rating against the way parts move, and ask whether the pallet nests when it comes back empty. It tends to lean on heavy-duty stackable pallets, nestable on the empty return, usually in 48 x 45 in or 48 x 40 in, and to ask about the dynamic load, since parts travel on forklifts and conveyors all day.

Motor vehicle parts manufacturing is the trade where Indiana is most concentrated, at 4.8 times the national share of employment. A buyer in that trade will tend to ask the questions in the last column first.

The empty return

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 539 warehouse establishments in Indiana sent back 800 empty pallets in a week, that would be 431,200 pallets. The table counts the 53 ft trailers that takes at three makers' published nestable figures, beside the 540 per trailer of a rackable.

Next door

Metros in Indiana with their own page: Indianapolis.

Words on this page

Footprint

The length and width of a pallet deck. It is chosen to fit the container, the drum, the bag or the receiving rack.

Interstate corridor

A freight route named for its highway, together with the metros along it.

Cube utilisation

How well loaded freight fills the volume of a trailer or container. Taller or wider-than-floor pallets waste cube.

UL

Underwriters Laboratories, a safety testing body that publishes fire test standards, including one for storage pallets.

Gross cubic feet

The total volume of a refrigerated warehouse. Usable space is smaller once aisles and equipment are subtracted.

Intermodal

Freight that changes between truck, rail and ship in the same container.

Location quotient

A place's share of employment in a trade divided by the national share. Above 1 means the trade is more concentrated there than average.

Last mile

The final leg of a delivery, from a local depot to the customer.

Drayage

The short haul of a container between a port or rail ramp and a warehouse.