Benld’s household incomes are lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 15.4% of residents, against 11.8% across Illinois. Jobs and income earn Benld C−; getting around on foot earns it B−. 5% of workers work from home (Illinois 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Benld: the gist
What’s behind Benld’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Benld is better than 15% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Benld’s grade up (ahead of 38% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($47,850, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (7.0%) is left out: Benld’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, Benld could be anywhere from D to C.
How many people are in Benld by day
On a workday 637 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 92 people come in from elsewhere.
About 860 people are in Benld on a workday afternoon, 39% fewer than live here.
0.15 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.
7% of working residents work in Litchfield
Where Benld clocks in
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.
What work there is in Benld: 97 jobs
97 jobs are based in Benld.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Benld, 2013 → 2023: 127 → 97. 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 Benld’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 26 minutes from Benld
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Benld workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 590 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.
Half of Benld commutes less than 26 miles
About 19% 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.
Most of Benld commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Benld is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 10.8% across Illinois.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 622 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). 6.4% of Benld households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Benld’s commuters take a bus or train.
4,403rd of 5,877: where Benld ranks among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,401 | Ellington NY | 1,477 | $65K | 18.0% | 5.1% | 1% | C− |
| 4,402 | Clayton WI | 1,024 | $71K | 15.4% | 0.7% | 9% | C− |
| 4,403 | Benld IL | 1,403 | $48K | 15.4% | 7.0% | 1% | C− |
| 4,404 | Elgin OR | 1,689 | $58K | 10.4% | 1.5% | 9% | C− |
| 4,405 | Muscoda WI | 1,304 | $56K | 12.5% | 4.6% | 10% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Benld, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Benld and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Benld workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benld | – | C− | B− | 26 min | $47,850 |
| Cahokia Township | under 3% | C− | C | 26 min | $57,132 |
| Gillespie Township | under 3% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Mount Clare | under 3% | — | — | 36 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Gillespie Township: not graded. Mount Clare: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Benld’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 Benld: questions
What is the median household income in Benld?
$47,850 (±$7,230) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Benld?
15.4%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Benld?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Benld work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Litchfield (7%, 9 mi), Springfield (5%, 49 mi), Edwardsville (5%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Benld walkable?
Benld is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Benld without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Benld, from the people who make the trip.
More of Benld
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.