Durham-Perry Farmstead · Photo: Teemu08 · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Bourbonnais (6.1%) than in 75% of U.S. towns
For 10% of workers, the job is at home; Illinois has 16%. Bourbonnais grades B− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in seven stay in Bourbonnais for work; outside it, Kankakee is the main destination (15%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Bourbonnais, in a few figures
Inside Bourbonnais’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bourbonnais is better than 52% of U.S. towns, #488 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Bourbonnais’ grade up (ahead of 71% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bourbonnais could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
How long Bourbonnais spends getting to work: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bourbonnais workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,790 commuters (the 10% 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 Bourbonnais
On a workday 6,917 residents head out to work, 1,009 work right here, and 4,745 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Bourbonnais on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.73 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.
Where Bourbonnais goes to work
Where Bourbonnais clocks in
15% of workers
11% of workers
9% 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.
The 5,754 jobs based in Bourbonnais
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bourbonnais, 2013 → 2023: 7,061 → 5,754. 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 Bourbonnais’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Bourbonnais
About 24% 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.
Bourbonnais 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, Bourbonnais is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #252 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Bourbonnais 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 8,628 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). 4.6% of Bourbonnais households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Bourbonnais’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Bourbonnais ranks: 1,304th of 2,103 U.S. towns of 12,000 to 24,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Deerfield IL | 19,642 | $182K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,302 | Benton Township IL | 18,769 | $83K | 8.9% | 8.9% | 4% | B− |
| 1,303 | Bainbridge Township IN | 17,648 | $69K | 14.4% | 1.5% | 52% | B− |
| 1,304 | Bourbonnais IL | 17,658 | $82K | 9.5% | 6.1% | 13% | B− |
| 1,305 | Republic MO | 22,404 | $66K | 17.7% | 1.9% | 11% | B− |
| 1,306 | West Carrollton OH | 12,963 | $62K | 16.0% | 3.1% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,103 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Bourbonnais, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Bourbonnais and its neighbors: 13% work next door
The biggest share goes to Bradley (11%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bourbonnais workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bourbonnais | – | B− | A− | 20 min | $81,708 |
| Bradley | 11% | B+ | A− | 24 min | $67,420 |
| Manteno | 2% | A | B+ | 32 min | $97,634 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bourbonnais’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 Bourbonnais: questions
What is the median household income in Bourbonnais?
$81,708 (±$6,279) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bourbonnais?
9.5%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bourbonnais?
20 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bourbonnais work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kankakee (15%, 6 mi), Bradley (11%, 2 mi), Chicago (9%, 46 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bourbonnais walkable?
Bourbonnais is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bourbonnais without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bourbonnais, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bourbonnais
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.