Photo: TCP04 · CC BY 4.0At 2.9%, unemployment in Bradley is lower than in 71% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Bradley are B+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 7% of workers have no commute at all, where Illinois as a whole has 16%. About one in seven work in Bradley itself; outside it, Kankakee draws the most (17%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Bradley at work: what stands out
Bradley trades workers with the towns around it
Bradley has about as many jobs (7,432) as working residents (7,052), but they are mostly different people: 6,044 residents leave for work each day while 6,424 people come in. Only 14% of the jobs in Bradley are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Bradley works one town over
26% of working residents work in a town that borders Bradley: Kankakee (17%) and Bourbonnais (9%). Next door ↓
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.
The four measures behind Bradley’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bradley is better than 66% of U.S. towns, #369 of 768 in Illinois. Unemployment holds Bradley’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($67,420, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bradley could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Bradley on a workday afternoon
On a workday 6,044 residents head out to work, 1,008 work right here, and 6,424 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.05 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.
Where Bradley goes to work
Where Bradley clocks in
17% 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.
28% of the jobs in Bradley make or build things
7,432 jobs are based in Bradley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bradley, 2013 → 2023: 7,524 → 7,432. 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 Bradley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes each way, quicker than most of Illinois
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bradley workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,726 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.
How far Bradley’s workers travel
About 23% 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.
Bradley is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bradley is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #276 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Bradley 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 8,273 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). 6.5% of Bradley households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Bradley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 11,000 to 21,000, Bradley ranks 1,025th of 2,109 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Deerfield IL | 19,642 | $182K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,023 | New Paltz NY | 15,636 | $83K | 22.0% | 8.2% | 20% | B+ |
| 1,024 | Port Royal SC | 16,648 | $75K | 8.4% | 1.0% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,025 | Bradley IL | 15,214 | $67K | 7.7% | 2.9% | 14% | B+ |
| 1,026 | Taylor TX | 18,402 | $76K | 7.7% | 4.1% | 15% | B+ |
| 1,027 | Carver MA | 11,981 | $91K | 7.5% | 4.4% | 7% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,109 | 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 Bradley, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
26% of Bradley works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bradley workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bradley | – | B+ | A− | 24 min | $67,420 |
| Bourbonnais | 9% | B− | A− | 20 min | $81,708 |
| Kankakee | 17% | D | A− | 22 min | $47,514 |
| Kankakee Township | under 1% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Kankakee Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Kankakee. Darker towns draw more of Bradley’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 Bradley: questions
What is the median household income in Bradley?
$67,420 (±$8,242) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bradley?
7.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bradley?
24 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bradley work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kankakee (17%, 4 mi), Bourbonnais (9%, 2 mi), Chicago (8%, 47 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bradley walkable?
Bradley is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bradley without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bradley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bradley
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.