Photo: Nyttend · Public domainUnemployment in Albion (10.2%) is higher than in 95% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Albion is better than 4% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (B+). Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers, where Illinois as a whole has 16%. Household incomes here are lower than in 79% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Albion
Albion is where the jobs are
Albion has 1,777 jobs, 2.3 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,800 people are in town, 54% more than the 1,800 who live here. Day and night ↓
Albion makes and builds things
73% of the jobs based in Albion are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Albion residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 38%. The jobs ↓
The biggest group of Albion’s workers comes from Mount Carmel
143 of the people who work in Albion live in Mount Carmel, 16 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 790 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Albion
Household income holds Albion’s grade up ($56,500, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (27.8%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Albion could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The daily flow of workers through Albion
On a workday 532 residents head out to work, 258 work right here, and 1,519 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,800 people are in Albion on a workday afternoon, 54% more than live here.
2.2 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A place that makes things: 73% of Albion’s jobs are in goods
1,777 jobs are based in Albion.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Albion, 2013 → 2023: 1,962 → 1,777. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Albion’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip into Albion
Where Albion clocks in
7% of workers
6% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
About 18 minutes to work from Albion
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Albion workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 890 commuters (the 3% who work from home are left out). Across Illinois: 78% drive alone, 7% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The distance from Albion to work
About 23% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most of Albion commutes by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 6.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 918 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.3% of Albion households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Albion’s commuters take a bus or train.
Albion next to U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Bannockburn IL | 1,308 | $214K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,226 | Henagar AL | 2,361 | $49K | 22.4% | 9.0% | 5% | D− |
| 5,227 | Parachute CO | 1,366 | $59K | 27.5% | 18.7% | 8% | D− |
| 5,228 | Albion IL | 1,843 | $57K | 27.8% | 10.2% | 33% | D− |
| 5,229 | Humboldt KS | 1,807 | $48K | 24.0% | 19.0% | 19% | D− |
| 5,230 | Baraga MI | 1,746 | $44K | 17.2% | 1.5% | 42% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Albion, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Albion: questions
What is the median household income in Albion?
$56,500 (±$12,111) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Albion?
27.8%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Albion?
18 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Albion work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fairfield (7%, 17 mi), Patoka Township (6%, 26 mi), Mount Carmel (5%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Albion walkable?
Albion is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Albion without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Albion, from the people who make the trip.
More of Albion
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.