Photo: Aaron Lucas · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Benton Township have lower incomes than those in 80% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Benton Township itself; outside it, Benton draws the most (18%, 3 miles). 17.1% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 11.8% for Illinois as a whole. Benton Township grades C− for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Benton Township: the gist
Inside Benton Township’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Benton Township is better than 23% of U.S. towns, #682 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Benton Township’s grade up (ahead of 43% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($55,610, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Benton Township could be anywhere from D to B−.
Out of Benton Township to work: where people go
Where Benton Township clocks in
18% of workers
14% of workers
8% 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.
Who leaves Benton Township for work, and who comes in
On a workday 2,643 residents head out to work, 606 work right here, and 1,691 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,600 people are in Benton Township on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.71 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.
What Benton Township’s employers do
2,297 jobs are based in Benton Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Benton Township, 2013 → 2023: 2,331 → 2,297. 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 Benton Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Benton Township’s commute takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Benton Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,160 commuters (the 11% 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 Benton Township commutes less than 20 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.
Getting around Benton Township: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Benton Township is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns, #506 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Benton Township 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 3,563 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). 5.7% of Benton Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Benton Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Benton Township is 2,448th among 2,922 U.S. towns of 6,000 to 11,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Itasca IL | 9,488 | $114K | 2.0% | 2.6% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,446 | Jacinto City TX | 9,388 | $47K | 27.1% | 8.5% | 2% | C− |
| 2,447 | Union Gap WA | 6,617 | $60K | 13.8% | 13.4% | 9% | C− |
| 2,448 | Benton Township IL | 8,535 | $56K | 17.1% | 4.9% | 19% | C− |
| 2,449 | Belleview FL | 6,512 | $58K | 16.8% | 5.9% | 4% | C− |
| 2,450 | Douglas WY | 6,469 | $83K | 15.6% | 5.8% | 46% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,922 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Benton Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Benton Township and its neighbors
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Benton Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benton Township | – | C− | B | 24 min | $55,610 |
| Frankfort Township | under 2% | D | B− | 26 min | $57,250 |
| Browning Township | under 2% | C− | C | 22 min | $53,125 |
| Ewing Township | under 2% | C | C− | 25 min | $74,073 |
| Hanaford | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
| Eastern Township | under 2% | — | — | 50 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Hanaford and Eastern Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Benton 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 Benton Township: questions
What is the median household income in Benton Township?
$55,610 (±$10,346) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Benton Township?
17.1%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Benton Township?
24 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Benton Township work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Benton (18%, 3 mi), Mount Vernon (14%, 22 mi), Marion (8%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Benton Township walkable?
Benton Township is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Benton Township without a car?
<1% 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 Benton Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Benton 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.