Photo: Daniel Schwen · CC BY-SA 4.0Fewer people are out of work in Bloomington (2.7%) than in 75% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 5.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 36.9 in Chicago. Bloomington grades B+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. A typical one-way commute from Bloomington lasts 17 minutes (Illinois 28, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Bloomington, in brief
Commutes from Bloomington are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Bloomington and Normal trade workers both ways
Normal is the top workplace for Bloomington residents (21%) and also where the most people who work in Bloomington come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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.
What’s behind Bloomington’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bloomington is better than 67% of U.S. towns, #359 of 768 in Illinois. Unemployment holds Bloomington’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (11.0%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bloomington could be anywhere from B to B+.
About 17 minutes each way, quicker than most of Illinois
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bloomington workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 32,003 commuters (the 21% 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.
21% of working residents work in Normal
Where Bloomington clocks in
21% of workers
3% 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 a workday changes Bloomington
On a workday 19,427 residents head out to work, 16,539 work right here, and 32,894 people come in from elsewhere.
About 92,000 people are in Bloomington on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.37 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
49,433 jobs are based in Bloomington.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bloomington, 2013 → 2023: 54,132 → 49,433. 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 Bloomington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Bloomington goes to work
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Bloomington
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bloomington is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #162 of 768 in Illinois. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.4% 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 40,354 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 69% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 29% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 5.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 84% 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). 7.2% of Bloomington households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Bloomington’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Bloomington ranks: 284th of 573 U.S. towns of 55,000 to 106,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | New Trier Township IL | 56,118 | $216K | 2.9% | 4.0% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Vernon Township IL | 71,353 | $146K | 6.3% | 2.4% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Wheatland Township IL | 92,693 | $173K | 3.2% | 4.0% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 282 | Hamden CT | 61,824 | $98K | 9.3% | 5.8% | 11% | B+ |
| 283 | San Rafael CA | 59,410 | $119K | 11.7% | 5.4% | 19% | B+ |
| 284 | Bloomington IL | 78,804 | $77K | 11.0% | 2.7% | 46% | B+ |
| 285 | Bloomington City Township IL | 78,804 | $77K | 11.0% | 2.7% | 46% | B+ |
| 286 | Leyden Township IL | 90,402 | $80K | 8.2% | 5.7% | 13% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 573 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Bloomington, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Work next door: 21% of Bloomington’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bloomington workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bloomington | – | B+ | A | 17 min | $77,384 |
| Bloomington City Township | under 1% | B+ | A | 17 min | $77,384 |
| Bloomington Township | under 1% | A | C− | 17 min | $111,563 |
| Old Town Township | under 1% | A− | C− | 26 min | $148,516 |
| Normal Township | under 1% | — | — | 16 min | — |
| Normal | 21% | B+ | A+ | 17 min | $64,785 |
| Dale Township | under 1% | A | D− | 24 min | $132,803 |
| Towanda Township | under 1% | A | C− | 18 min | $118,875 |
| Dry Grove Township | under 1% | A | C | 28 min | $117,813 |
| Twin Grove | under 1% | A | D | 23 min | $116,250 |
Same-state neighbors only. Normal Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Normal. Darker towns draw more of Bloomington’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 Bloomington: questions
What is the median household income in Bloomington?
$77,384 (±$4,104) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bloomington?
11.0%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bloomington?
17 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bloomington work?
46% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Normal (21%, 3 mi), Peoria (3%, 39 mi), Chicago (3%, 115 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bloomington walkable?
Bloomington is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bloomington without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 29% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bloomington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bloomington
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.