Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Buckner works elsewhere
Buckner has 27 jobs; 168 of its residents have a job. Hardly any stay in Buckner for work; outside it, Christopher is the main destination (13%, 2 miles). The trip to work takes 29 minutes on average (Illinois 28, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who works in Buckner, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 167 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 26 people come in from elsewhere.
About 250 people are in Buckner 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.
Commuting out of Buckner: the destinations
Where Buckner clocks in
13% of workers
10% 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.
Buckner works in goods: 41% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Buckner, 2013 → 2023: 5 → 27. 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 Buckner’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Buckner, about 29 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Buckner workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 95 commuters (the 12% 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.
Buckner’s commute, mile by mile
About 16% 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.
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 Buckner: questions
What is the median household income in Buckner?
$46,364 (±$10,355) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Buckner?
31.2%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Buckner?
29 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Buckner work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Christopher (13%, 2 mi), Marion (10%, 18 mi), Mount Vernon (8%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Buckner without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Buckner, from the people who make the trip.
More of Buckner
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.