Photo: 2Bdea · CC BY 3.0Alpha has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
Home is the office for 0% of workers; Illinois has 16%. Employers in Alpha report 64 jobs; 254 of its residents have a job. Hardly any stay in Alpha for work; outside it, Woodhull is the main destination (8%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Alpha apart on work
Alpha is a place people come home to
There are 64 jobs based in Alpha, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Alpha has about 460 people in it, 29% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Alpha are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Alpha workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 254 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Who works in Alpha, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 252 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 62 people come in from elsewhere.
About 460 people are in Alpha on a workday afternoon, 29% 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.
Alpha’s commute takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alpha workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 410 commuters (the <1% 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.
Where Alpha goes to work
Where Alpha clocks in
7% of workers
6% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Alpha
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alpha, 2013 → 2023: 75 → 64. 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 Alpha’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Alpha to work
About 21% 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.
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 Alpha: questions
What is the median household income in Alpha?
$77,639 (±$8,811) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alpha?
1.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alpha?
20 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alpha work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Woodhull (8%, 3 mi), Galesburg (7%, 17 mi), Davenport (6%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Alpha without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alpha, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alpha
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.