Beecher Mausoleum · Photo: Boscophotos · CC BY-SA 3.0At 1.3%, unemployment in Beecher is lower than in 92% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Beecher is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns. The two grades for Beecher are A+ for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. About one in ten stay in Beecher for work; outside it, Chicago is the main destination (11%, 34 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Beecher and work: the main findings
Beecher’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Beecher is Chicago, 34 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (240) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Beecher
63% of Beecher residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 45% of the jobs based in Beecher pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 89% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
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.
Why Beecher gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Beecher is better than 96% of U.S. towns, #43 of 768 in Illinois. The poverty rate is its strongest input (2.7%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 74% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Beecher could be anywhere from A− to A+.
How far it is to work from Beecher
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 kinds of work in Beecher
1,086 jobs are based in Beecher.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Beecher, 2013 → 2023: 855 → 1,086. 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 Beecher’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Beecher for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,920 residents head out to work, 231 work right here, and 855 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,700 people are in Beecher on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
0.50 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Where Beecher’s working residents head each day
Where Beecher clocks in
11% 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 long Beecher spends getting to work: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Beecher workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,312 commuters (the 9% 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.
For most of Beecher, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Beecher is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns, #606 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Beecher 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 2,527 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). 4.4% of Beecher households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Beecher’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Beecher ranks: 167th of 3,867 U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | South Barrington IL | 5,071 | $222K | 1.0% | 2.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Deer Park IL | 3,647 | $174K | 1.3% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 165 | Hay Creek Township ND | 4,380 | $161K | 0.7% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| 166 | Springfield Township PA | 5,246 | $123K | 2.7% | 2.3% | 5% | A+ |
| 167 | Beecher IL | 4,740 | $103K | 2.7% | 1.3% | 11% | A+ |
| 168 | New Whiteland IN | 5,937 | $90K | 3.3% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 169 | Merton WI | 3,676 | $174K | 6.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,867 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Beecher, 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 Beecher: questions
What is the median household income in Beecher?
$103,415 (±$20,564) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Beecher?
2.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Beecher?
29 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Beecher work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (11%, 34 mi), University Park (3%, 8 mi), Crete (3%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Beecher walkable?
Beecher is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Beecher without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Beecher, from the people who make the trip.
More of Beecher
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.