Photo: Uoila1 · Public domainHow Ashton Township works: jobs, income and commuting
About one in ten work in Ashton Township; the top destination outside it is Rochelle (13%, 9 miles). For jobs and income Ashton Township is better than 32% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns (C−). 6% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Ashton Township apart on work
Ashton Township is the work center of its corner
Every town that borders Ashton Township (Lafayette Township, Franklin Grove Township, Reynolds Township, Bradford Township and Taylor Township) has fewer jobs than working residents, while Ashton Township has 1.7 per resident. Next door ↓
Ashton Township makes and builds things
71% of the jobs based in Ashton Township are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Ashton Township residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 31%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 565 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Ashton Township’s grade
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Ashton Township’s grade.
Unemployment (7.9%) is left out: Ashton Township’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, Ashton Township could be anywhere from C− to B−.
71% of the jobs in Ashton Township make or build things
938 jobs are based in Ashton Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ashton Township, 2013 → 2023: 896 → 938. 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 Ashton Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Ashton Township to work
About 30% 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.
Who leaves Ashton Township for work, and who comes in
On a workday 504 residents head out to work, 61 work right here, and 877 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Ashton Township on a workday afternoon, 33% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting in to Ashton Township: where workers come from
Where Ashton Township clocks in
11% 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.
The trip to work from Ashton Township: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ashton Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 472 commuters (the 6% 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.
Few in Ashton Township walk, bike or ride to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 3.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 500 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). 3.8% of Ashton Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ashton Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,013th of 3,771: where Ashton Township ranks among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,011 | Russell GA | 1,089 | $61K | 18.0% | 1.5% | 1% | C |
| 2,012 | Kingsley MI | 1,455 | $67K | 9.2% | 4.4% | 5% | C |
| 2,013 | Ashton Township IL | 1,120 | $71K | 12.0% | 7.9% | 11% | C |
| 2,014 | Vinalhaven ME | 1,254 | $73K | 7.3% | 2.2% | 41% | C |
| 2,015 | West Park CA | 1,136 | $61K | 26.2% | 13.4% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Ashton Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Ashton Township and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ashton Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashton Township | – | C | C− | 24 min | $71,087 |
| Lafayette Township | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| Franklin Grove Township | under 2% | C+ | C− | 28 min | $63,194 |
| Reynolds Township | under 2% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| Bradford Township | under 2% | — | — | 30 min | — |
| Taylor Township | under 2% | — | — | 26 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Lafayette Township, Reynolds Township, Bradford Township and Taylor Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ashton 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 Ashton Township: questions
What is the median household income in Ashton Township?
$71,087 (±$7,954) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ashton Township?
12.0%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ashton Township?
24 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ashton Township work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rochelle (13%, 9 mi), Ashton (11%, 0 mi), Rockford (6%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ashton Township walkable?
Ashton Township is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 3.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ashton Township 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 Ashton Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ashton 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.