Households in Bethany earn less than those in 93% of U.S. towns
4% of workers work from home; Illinois has 16%. Poverty touches 12.3% of residents, against 11.8% across Illinois. Jobs and income earn Bethany C−; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Bethany
Jobs & income in Bethany: the grade in detail
The poverty rate holds Bethany’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($44,583, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (2.6%) is left out: Bethany’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Bethany could be anywhere from D− to B−.
The trip to work from Bethany: 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 Bethany workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 532 commuters (the 4% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Bethany
On a workday 518 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 198 people come in from elsewhere.
About 880 people are in Bethany on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
0.41 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.
21% of working residents work in Sullivan
Where Bethany clocks in
21% 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.
Jobs in Bethany: what the 226 are
226 jobs are based in Bethany.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bethany, 2013 → 2023: 176 → 226. 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 Bethany’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Bethany’s commute, mile by mile
About 22% 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.
The commute in Bethany is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bethany is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Bethany 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 552 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). 4.3% of Bethany households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bethany’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,176th of 4,312: where Bethany ranks among 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,174 | Jefferson Township IN | 1,566 | $67K | 17.9% | 1.0% | 2% | C− |
| 3,175 | Locust Fork AL | 1,234 | $50K | 18.7% | 4.5% | 2% | C− |
| 3,176 | Bethany IL | 1,200 | $45K | 12.3% | 2.6% | 5% | C− |
| 3,177 | Kingsford Heights IN | 1,500 | $58K | 26.7% | 1.1% | 3% | C− |
| 3,178 | Centerville TX | 1,006 | $53K | 8.6% | 4.7% | 19% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Bethany, 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 Bethany: questions
What is the median household income in Bethany?
$44,583 (±$16,878) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bethany?
12.3%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bethany?
24 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bethany work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sullivan (21%, 8 mi), Decatur (12%, 18 mi), Mattoon (6%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bethany walkable?
Bethany is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bethany 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 Bethany, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bethany
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.