Joshua P. Young House · Photo: Burnhamandroot · Public domainFew U.S. towns have unemployment as high as Blue Island’s 15.5%
Blue Island grades C for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 8% of workers, next to 16% for Illinois as a whole. Only 6% work in Blue Island; the top destination outside it is Chicago (30%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Blue Island: the gist
Blue Island and Chicago trade workers both ways
Chicago is the top workplace for Blue Island residents (30%) and also where the most people who work in Blue Island come from (24% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Blue Island than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Blue Island fell from 7,133 in 2014 to 4,632 in 2024, −35%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Blue Island
Job access by car holds Blue Island’s grade up (ahead of 98% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Blue Island could be anywhere from C− to C+.
The places Blue Island commutes to
Where Blue Island clocks in
30% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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 Blue Island: what the 4,632 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blue Island, 2014 → 2024: 7,133 → 4,632. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Blue Island’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Blue Island by day and by night
On a workday 8,600 residents head out to work, 537 work right here, and 4,095 people come in from elsewhere.
About 17,000 people are in Blue Island on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
0.51 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 2024, primary jobs.
Time on the road from Blue Island: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blue Island workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,614 commuters (the 8% 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.
How far it is to work from Blue Island
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Blue Island is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 9,385 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 66% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 10.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 94% 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). 16.8% of Blue Island households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 8% of Blue Island’s commuters take a bus or train.
Blue Island is 1,458th of 1,787 U.S. towns of 15,000 to 29,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Deerfield IL | 19,642 | $182K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | La Grange IL | 15,935 | $160K | 4.6% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,456 | Southbridge Town MA | 18,105 | $66K | 15.3% | 7.2% | 18% | C |
| 1,457 | Phillipsburg NJ | 15,456 | $68K | 20.2% | 7.3% | 10% | C |
| 1,458 | Blue Island IL | 21,805 | $59K | 17.1% | 15.5% | 6% | C |
| 1,459 | Bethany OK | 20,315 | $57K | 20.5% | 6.5% | 6% | C |
| 1,460 | Shelbyville TN | 26,146 | $55K | 20.7% | 3.8% | 32% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,787 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Blue Island, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
33% of Blue Island works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Blue Island workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Island | – | C | A+ | 29 min | $59,489 |
| Calumet Park | under 2% | C | A+ | 39 min | $53,556 |
| Alsip | 3% | C+ | A | 30 min | $66,585 |
| Riverdale | under 2% | C− | A+ | 34 min | $39,833 |
| Robbins | under 2% | C− | A | 29 min | $40,668 |
| Calumet Township | under 2% | C− | A+ | 33 min | $49,861 |
| Dixmoor | under 2% | C− | A+ | 23 min | $44,600 |
| Chicago | 30% | B− | A+ | 33 min | $77,902 |
| Posen | under 2% | C+ | A− | 24 min | $73,051 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Chicago. Darker towns draw more of Blue Island’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 2024, 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 Blue Island: questions
What is the median household income in Blue Island?
$59,489 (±$8,134) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blue Island?
17.1%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Blue Island?
29 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blue Island work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (30%, 12 mi), Alsip (3%, 3 mi), Oak Lawn (2%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Blue Island walkable?
Blue Island is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.3 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Blue Island without a car?
8% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. 66% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blue Island, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blue Island
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.