Photo: Tedder · CC BY 4.0Most of Ashland commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
Jobs and income earn Ashland B−; getting around on foot earns it B. Ashland has 187 jobs, and 619 of its residents work somewhere. Only 6% work in Ashland itself; outside it, Springfield draws the most (30%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Ashland at work: what stands out
30% of Ashland works in Springfield
185 working residents, 30%, have their main job in Springfield, 20 miles away. That’s 5 times as many as work in Ashland itself. The commute map ↓
Ashland is a place people come home to
There are 187 jobs based in Ashland, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Ashland has about 730 people in it, 37% 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 619 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Ashland’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Ashland is better than 51% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Ashland’s grade up (4.9%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (2.2%) is left out: Ashland’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Ashland could be anywhere from C to B+.
The towns that employ Ashland’s residents
Where Ashland clocks in
30% of workers
7% of workers
3% 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.
How many people are in Ashland by day
On a workday 580 residents head out to work, 39 work right here, and 148 people come in from elsewhere.
About 730 people are in Ashland on a workday afternoon, 37% 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.
What Ashland’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ashland, 2013 → 2023: 243 → 187. 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 Ashland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes each way for Ashland’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ashland workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 428 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Ashland
About 27% 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.
Getting around Ashland: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ashland is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Ashland 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 475 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). 5.3% of Ashland households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ashland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Ashland is 1,391st among 4,312 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,389 | Haven Township KS | 1,555 | $60K | 6.9% | 3.8% | 11% | B− |
| 1,390 | Ludington WI | 1,037 | $86K | 7.8% | 4.5% | <1% | B− |
| 1,391 | Ashland IL | 1,162 | $68K | 4.9% | 2.2% | 6% | B− |
| 1,392 | Cedar Flat CA | 1,089 | $99K | 6.0% | 5.7% | 3% | B− |
| 1,393 | Beale AFB CA | 1,344 | $70K | 0.0% | 9.0% | <1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | 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 Ashland, 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 Ashland: questions
What is the median household income in Ashland?
$68,060 (±$10,003) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ashland?
4.9%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ashland?
24 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ashland work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (30%, 20 mi), Jacksonville (7%, 16 mi), Beardstown (3%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ashland walkable?
Ashland is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ashland without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ashland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ashland
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.