Photo: Daniel Schwen · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Arcola earn more than those in 68% of U.S. towns
9.6% of residents are in poverty (Illinois 11.8%). The two grades for Arcola are B− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Home is the office for 5% of workers (Illinois 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Arcola apart on work
Arcola makes and builds things
67% of the jobs based in Arcola are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Arcola residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 46%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Arcola are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 107 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.
What’s behind Arcola’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Arcola is better than 49% of U.S. towns, #508 of 768 in Illinois. Household income holds Arcola’s grade up ($89,827, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.4%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Arcola could be anywhere from C to A−.
Arcola works in goods: 67% of its jobs
1,570 jobs are based in Arcola.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Arcola, 2013 → 2023: 1,390 → 1,570. 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 Arcola’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 14 minutes each way for Arcola’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Arcola workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,332 commuters (the 5% 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.
Who leaves Arcola for work, and who comes in
On a workday 951 residents head out to work, 467 work right here, and 1,103 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 (1.11 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.
8% of working residents work in Arthur
Where Arcola clocks in
8% of workers
5% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Arcola
About 17% 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 commute in Arcola is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Arcola is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns, #511 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Arcola 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 1,406 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). 8.2% of Arcola households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Arcola’s commuters take a bus or train.
Arcola next to U.S. towns of 2,000 to 4,000: 2,444th of 5,016 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Deer Park IL | 3,647 | $174K | 1.3% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,442 | Patton Village TX | 2,069 | $78K | 21.5% | 7.4% | <1% | B− |
| 2,443 | Holley FL | 2,487 | $105K | 8.5% | 0.0% | 2% | B− |
| 2,444 | Arcola IL | 2,928 | $90K | 9.6% | 5.4% | 33% | B− |
| 2,445 | Rock Rapids IA | 2,733 | $64K | 6.5% | 3.8% | 38% | B− |
| 2,446 | Algona WA | 3,253 | $85K | 12.1% | 9.4% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,016 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Arcola, 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 Arcola: questions
What is the median household income in Arcola?
$89,827 (±$7,093) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Arcola?
9.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Arcola?
14 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Arcola work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Arthur (8%, 9 mi), Champaign (5%, 30 mi), Mattoon (5%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Arcola walkable?
Arcola is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Arcola without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Arcola, from the people who make the trip.
More of Arcola
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.