Photo: TheCatalyst31 · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Alden Township commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Alden Township report 121 jobs for 567 working residents. Alden Township grades B for jobs and income and D for walkability. Household incomes here are higher than in 79% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Alden Township, in a few figures
Alden Township’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Alden Township is Chicago, 61 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (64) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Alden Township is a place people come home to
There are 121 jobs based in Alden Township, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Alden Township has about 810 people in it, 36% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 567 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Alden Township’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Alden Township is better than 63% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Alden Township’s grade up ($102,710, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.9%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Alden Township’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Alden Township could be anywhere from C− to A+.
How far Alden Township’s workers travel
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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Alden Township
On a workday 562 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 116 people come in from elsewhere.
About 810 people are in Alden Township on a workday afternoon, 36% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
11% of working residents work in Chicago
Where Alden Township clocks in
11% of workers
9% of workers
8% 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.
In Alden Township, 74% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alden Township, 2013 → 2023: 99 → 121. 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 Alden Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Alden Township, about 31 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alden Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 513 commuters (the 13% 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.
For most of Alden Township, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Alden Township is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 3.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 592 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 7% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 7% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 41% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.6% of Alden Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Alden Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700, Alden Township comes 1,098th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,096 | Black Creek WI | 1,335 | $67K | 6.5% | 4.1% | 3% | B |
| 1,097 | Avondale PA | 1,264 | $79K | 8.6% | 3.0% | 1% | B |
| 1,098 | Alden Township IL | 1,255 | $103K | 13.9% | 0.0% | 1% | B |
| 1,099 | Armstrong Township IN | 1,634 | $86K | 8.0% | 0.0% | 4% | B |
| 1,100 | Jefferson Township IN | 1,291 | $91K | 4.4% | 0.0% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Alden Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
The towns around Alden Township
The biggest share goes to Hartland Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Alden Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alden Township | – | B | D | 31 min | $102,710 |
| Hartland Township | 3% | A | B | 37 min | $104,531 |
| Chemung Township | under 2% | C | A | 28 min | $67,742 |
| Hebron Township | under 2% | A− | C− | 28 min | $106,250 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Alden Township’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Alden Township: questions
What is the median household income in Alden Township?
$102,710 (±$48,540) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alden Township?
13.9%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alden Township?
31 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alden Township work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (11%, 61 mi), Harvard (9%, 5 mi), Woodstock (8%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alden Township walkable?
Alden Township is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 3.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alden Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 7% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alden Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alden Township
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.