Big Mound Township has 2.5 jobs for every working resident: 1,578 people commute in to work
1,687 jobs are based in Big Mound Township; 664 of its residents have a job. Big Mound Township grades D for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers, where Illinois as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Big Mound Township
Big Mound Township is where the jobs are
Big Mound Township has 1,687 jobs, 2.5 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,700 people are in town, 60% more than the 1,700 who live here. Day and night ↓
Big Mound Township and Fairfield trade workers both ways
Fairfield is the top workplace for Big Mound Township residents (26%) and also where the most people who work in Big Mound Township come from (21% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Big Mound Township are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
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 664 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Big Mound Township
On family income, poverty and job access, Big Mound Township is better than 10% of U.S. towns. Family income holds Big Mound Township’s grade up ($76,438, U.S. $99,999); the poverty rate pulls it down (21.2%, U.S. 11.9%).
17% of Big Mound Township’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (18% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 21.2%, against 29.0% for all residents. Unemployment (4.6%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($76,438), since student households pull the household median down ($34,943).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Big Mound Township could be anywhere from D− to B.
Who leaves Big Mound Township for work, and who comes in
On a workday 555 residents head out to work and 109 work right here.
About 2,700 people are in Big Mound Township on a workday afternoon, 60% more than live here.
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 Big Mound Township: where workers come from
Where Big Mound Township clocks in
26% of workers
8% 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.
From Big Mound Township, about 18 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Big Mound Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 431 commuters (the 3% 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 kinds of work in Big Mound Township
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Big Mound Township, 2013 → 2023: 1,589 → 1,687. 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 Big Mound Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Big Mound Township
About 31% 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.
Big Mound Township is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Big Mound Township is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 12.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 6.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 445 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). 11.7% of Big Mound Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 6% of Big Mound Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,760 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300, Big Mound Township comes 4,815th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Bannockburn IL | 1,308 | $214K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,813 | Blacksburg SC | 1,965 | $32K | 31.4% | 10.5% | 3% | D |
| 4,814 | Mason TN | 1,342 | $48K | 31.0% | 6.1% | 2% | D |
| 4,815 | Big Mound Township IL | 1,713 | $35K | 29.0% | 4.6% | 16% | D |
| 4,816 | Woodbridge Township MI | 1,308 | $67K | 27.2% | 4.6% | 4% | D |
| 4,817 | Ovid NY | 2,264 | $64K | 22.8% | 4.9% | 7% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Big Mound Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Bordering towns draw 26% of Big Mound Township’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Big Mound Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Mound Township | – | D | A− | 18 min | $34,943 |
| Orel Township | under 2% | D | C− | 27 min | $48,542 |
| Crouch Township | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Lamard Township | under 2% | C− | D | 31 min | $69,471 |
| Barnhill Township | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Arrington Township | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Fairfield | 26% | C− | A− | 18 min | $41,989 |
Same-state neighbors only. Crouch Township, Barnhill Township and Arrington Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Fairfield. Darker towns draw more of Big Mound 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.
- Students. 17% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Big Mound Township: questions
What is the median household income in Big Mound Township?
$34,943 (±$24,992) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Big Mound Township?
29.0% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 21.2%. Illinois: 11.8%.
How long is the commute from Big Mound Township?
18 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Big Mound Township work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fairfield (26%, 5 mi), Mount Vernon (8%, 27 mi), Albion (5%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Big Mound Township walkable?
Big Mound Township is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Big Mound Township without a car?
6% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Big Mound Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Big Mound 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.