Bluffs has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Bluffs has 107 jobs; 283 of its residents have a job. Only 8% stay in Bluffs for work; outside it, Springfield is the main destination (14%, 47 miles). For 7% of workers, the job is at home, next to 16% for Illinois as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Bluffs, in a few figures
Bluffs’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Bluffs is Springfield, 47 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (41) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Bluffs are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 46 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 283 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How far it is to work from Bluffs
About 27% 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.
Bluffs’ commute takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bluffs workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 240 commuters (the 7% 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.
Who works in Bluffs, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 261 residents head out to work, 22 work right here, and 85 people come in from elsewhere.
About 420 people are in Bluffs on a workday afternoon, 30% fewer 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.
Where Bluffs goes to work
Where Bluffs clocks in
14% 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.
Bluffs is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bluffs, 2013 → 2023: 96 → 107. 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 Bluffs’s own residents hold wherever they work.
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 Bluffs: questions
What is the median household income in Bluffs?
$69,250 (±$17,639) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bluffs?
4.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bluffs?
22 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bluffs work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (14%, 47 mi), Jacksonville (14%, 16 mi), Mount Sterling (8%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Bluffs without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bluffs, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bluffs
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.