Brighton has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
Home is the office for 4% of workers, against 16% across Illinois. 264 jobs are based in Brighton for 1,045 working residents. The two grades for Brighton are B+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Brighton: the figures worth knowing
Brighton is a place people come home to
There are 264 jobs based in Brighton, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Brighton has about 1,400 people in it, 36% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Brighton workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 33 minutes each way, against 28 across Illinois. Over a year that’s about 253 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical 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.
Jobs & income in Brighton: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brighton is better than 66% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Brighton’s grade up (2.6%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (10.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brighton could be anywhere from C to A.
In and out of Brighton on a workday
On a workday 1,019 residents head out to work, 26 work right here, and 238 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Brighton on a workday afternoon, 36% 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.
Brighton’s commute takes about 33 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brighton workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,044 commuters (the 4% 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.
11% of working residents work in Alton
Where Brighton clocks in
11% of workers
6% of workers
4% 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.
What Brighton’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brighton, 2013 → 2023: 276 → 264. 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 Brighton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Brighton 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.
In Brighton, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brighton is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 6.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,093 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). 6.1% of Brighton households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Brighton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Brighton is 1,409th among 5,404 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Port Barrington IL | 1,584 | $150K | 2.7% | 2.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,407 | Beaver Township MI | 2,684 | $89K | 4.8% | 4.2% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,408 | Springport NY | 2,138 | $86K | 3.8% | 3.5% | 10% | B+ |
| 1,409 | Brighton IL | 2,162 | $80K | 10.1% | 2.6% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,410 | Lena IL | 2,670 | $73K | 3.1% | 2.6% | 13% | B+ |
| 1,411 | Durand Township IL | 2,301 | $67K | 5.1% | 2.9% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Brighton, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
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 Brighton: questions
What is the median household income in Brighton?
$80,214 (±$16,597) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brighton?
10.1%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brighton?
33 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brighton work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Alton (11%, 10 mi), St. Louis (6%, 29 mi), Edwardsville (4%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brighton walkable?
Brighton is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brighton without a car?
3% 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 Brighton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brighton
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.