Photo: Illinois2011 · CC BY 3.0Households in Alton earn less than those in 82% of U.S. towns
Alton grades C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Below the poverty line: 21.0% of residents, where Illinois as a whole has 11.8%. About one in five stay in Alton for work; outside it, Edwardsville is the main destination (7%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Alton apart
Alton trades workers with the towns around it
Alton has about as many jobs (12,807) as working residents (10,633), but they are mostly different people: 8,398 residents leave for work each day while 10,572 people come in. Only 17% of the jobs in Alton are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Alton are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Alton
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Alton is better than 31% of U.S. towns, #621 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Alton’s grade up (ahead of 83% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Alton could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 8,398 residents head out to work, 2,235 work right here, and 10,572 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.20 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Alton’s commute takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alton workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,254 commuters (the 10% 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 the trip to work from Alton ends
Where Alton 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.
What Alton’s employers do
12,807 jobs are based in Alton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alton, 2013 → 2023: 13,688 → 12,807. 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 Alton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Alton works
About 16% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Alton
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Alton is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #277 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Alton near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 11,356 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 10.4% of Alton households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Alton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Alton is 1,266th of 1,516 U.S. towns of 18,000 to 34,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Deerfield IL | 19,642 | $182K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | West Deerfield Township IL | 32,111 | $205K | 2.7% | 2.7% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,264 | Shafter CA | 23,871 | $71K | 20.7% | 5.8% | 17% | C |
| 1,265 | Wildwood FL | 19,436 | $77K | 12.8% | 7.5% | 20% | C |
| 1,266 | Alton IL | 25,013 | $55K | 21.0% | 5.4% | 21% | C |
| 1,267 | West Odessa TX | 32,594 | $65K | 16.6% | 6.0% | 9% | C |
| 1,268 | Madison Township IN | 18,077 | $61K | 14.2% | 4.0% | 46% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,516 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Alton, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
The towns around Alton
The biggest share goes to Godfrey (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Alton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alton | – | C | A− | 23 min | $54,568 |
| Alton Township | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Wood River Township | under 2% | B− | B | 23 min | $62,083 |
| Godfrey | 5% | B+ | C | 26 min | $94,543 |
| East Alton | 3% | C+ | B+ | 22 min | $48,815 |
| Foster Township | under 2% | B | D | 27 min | $110,625 |
Same-state neighbors only. Alton Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Alton’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 Alton: questions
What is the median household income in Alton?
$54,568 (±$4,656) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alton?
21.0%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alton?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alton work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Edwardsville (7%, 12 mi), St. Louis (6%, 19 mi), Godfrey (5%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alton walkable?
Alton is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alton without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alton
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.