New Carlisle, Indiana
Amazon’s Project Rainier campus in St. Joseph County. What it’s like to work here, what it costs, and the road work around the gate.
First edition. Some sections are still being sourced, and they say so. Know something we got wrong? Tell us.
Four thousand workers, outside a town of nineteen hundred
New Carlisle had 1,891 people at the 2020 census. On a typical week, about 4,000 workers are on the Amazon site, a county economic development official said. The head of the South Bend chamber says he’s seen up to 4,000.
The campus keeps growing. Amazon has put $13.8 billion into it, past its original $11 billion, and says it’s “only part of the way done.” About 18 of a planned 30 buildings were running by July.
Who’s building it
Amazon Web Services owns it. To build faster, Amazon put four general contractors on the job at the same time. Ryan Companies is one of them.
The other three general contractors: we’re still sourcing this. Check back, or get an email when it’s in.
Your employer is the company doing your trade’s work — not Amazon. Get its name before you agree to anything.
Nineteen more of these are coming
Eight guides are written. Leave an address and the next one reaches you when it is done — nothing here is behind a wall, and nothing else gets sent.
Each new site guide when it’s done, and a note when a new tool goes up. Nothing else, ever.
The hotels have been full
Local hotels have run at capacity since the build ramped up. New Carlisle is a small town; most beds are elsewhere in the South Bend area.
Rents, extended stays and RV parks: we’re still sourcing this. We haven’t found a rate we can stand behind yet. Check back, or get an email when it’s in.
State Road 2 is a work zone until late 2027
Traffic jams and crashes went up with the build. Amazon agreed to pay $120,000 for traffic enforcement overtime and $7 million for road work.
The big one: a diverging diamond interchange at State Road 2 and Strawberry Road / Larrison Boulevard, next to the Amazon site and the Samsung battery plant. Construction started in August 2026 and runs to late 2027.
- One lane each way on State Road 2 through the work zone.
- Strawberry Road is closed south of State Road 2.
- No left turns on Strawberry Road. Right‑in, right‑out on the north side, and follow the detour signs.
Plan for the work zone at shift change, every day, for the length of your job.
Traffic counts and gate times: we’re still sourcing this. Check back, or get an email when it’s in.
Who holds St. Joseph County
- Laborers Local 645 lists St. Joseph County in its jurisdiction.
The electrical, pipe and iron locals: we’re still sourcing this. We confirm a hall’s jurisdiction on its own page or by phone before we print it. Check back, or get an email when it’s in.
Ask whether your package is union, merit shop, or both. It decides your rate, your overtime and whether a hall can help you.
How the one-year rule works
What counts is how long the job was expected to run. Not how long it actually runs.
- Expected to run a year or less, and it does. Per diem stays out of your wages.
- Expected to run longer than a year. Wages from your first day, however long it actually runs.
- Expected short, then extended past a year. Wages from the day a year or less stopped being realistic — not your 365th day, and not when the paperwork catches up.
It doesn’t reach back. Expect nine months, get extended at month eight, and the first eight months stand. That’s the IRS’s own example. The day you were told matters more than anything else here.
Keep three things: what you were told at the start (offer letter, requisition, the recruiter’s text), the day the extension came down and who it came from, and proof of a home you pay for while you’re away. Without that last one, none of the per diem was tax‑free to begin with.
What you’d actually keep here
The per diem rate here, Indiana’s county tax, the trap on this job, and what to ask before you accept.
St. Joseph County gets the standard rate
No special rate here. Since 1 October 2026 the federal standard is $113 lodging plus $68 meals, $181 a day. That’s the most that can come to you tax‑free. Anything over it is wages and lands on your W‑2, whatever the recruiter calls it.
Indiana counties charge their own income tax. Indiana’s rate is 2.90% for 2026, and St. Joseph County adds 1.75%. That’s 4.65% on your wages for work done here.
A rate comparison that shows only the state number is short by more than a third.
This campus has been building for two years and isn’t done. Amazon plans about 30 buildings and has about 18 running. Rolling from one building to the next is easy here, and if your stay was expected to run past a year, your per diem is taxed from your first paycheck.
Ask how long your part is expected to run, and get it in writing.
Before you accept
- How long is my part expected to run? Will they put it in writing?
- Is the per diem taxed from day one, or could it get reclassified later?
- Who is my employer, and which of the general contractors is it under?
- Will they withhold the county tax, not just the state’s?
- Is the per diem paid seven days a week, or only days worked?
- How many hours are guaranteed, and is overtime daily or only past forty? (Union daily overtime doesn’t count for the federal overtime deduction.)
If they can’t answer the first two, you don’t have enough to decide.
Run the whole offer through the calculator.
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Sources
- Workers on site, the four contractors, hotels and the traffic payments: AP, via the Spokesman-Review, July 2025.
- Investment, buildings and the chamber’s count: WNDU, July 2026.
- Ryan Companies on site: WSBT, April 2025.
- The interchange: WSBT, citing INDOT, August 2026.
- Population: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020.
- Indiana’s 2026 rate: EY on SB 451, May 2025. County rate: Indiana Department of Revenue, Departmental Notice #1.
- The halls: the local’s own jurisdiction page, September 2026.
- Per diem rate: GSA, fiscal year 2027 (Indiana table, checked 22 October 2026). The one-year rule: IRS Publication 463 and Tax Topic 511.