Photo: Daytripper07 (Uploads) · CC BY 2.5Bunker Hill has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs & income B−: better than 49% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability C+: more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are higher than in 51% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 31 minutes each way (Illinois 28, U.S. 26). About one in ten work in Bunker Hill; the top destination outside it is Alton (6%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Bunker Hill
The better-paid jobs are outside Bunker Hill
60% of Bunker Hill residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 31% of the jobs based in Bunker Hill pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 91% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Bunker Hill pay little
33% of the jobs based in Bunker Hill pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 32% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
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 715 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Bunker Hill’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Bunker Hill is better than 49% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Bunker Hill’s grade.
Unemployment (5.0%) is left out: Bunker Hill’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Bunker Hill could be anywhere from C to B.
What the 367 jobs in Bunker Hill are
367 jobs are based in Bunker Hill. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Bunker Hill’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bunker Hill, 2013 → 2023: 370 → 367. 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.
Bunker Hill quiets down on a workday
On a workday 652 residents head out to work, 63 work right here, and 304 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Bunker Hill on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
0.51 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.
6% of working residents work in Alton
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Bunker Hill clocks in
6% of workers
6% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
About 31 minutes each way, longer than most of Illinois
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bunker Hill workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 501 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across Illinois: 78% drive alone, 7% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Half of Bunker Hill commutes less than 19 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
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.
Most trips from Bunker Hill start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bunker Hill is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 10.8% across Illinois.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 553 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). 2.2% of Bunker Hill households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bunker Hill’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bunker Hill is 2,342nd of 6,161 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Bunker Hill, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Bannockburn IL | 1,308 | $214K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,340 | Gardner WI | 1,228 | $69K | 4.8% | 0.8% | 1% | B− |
| 2,341 | Woodland Park NE | 1,657 | $74K | 7.1% | 0.0% | 1% | B− |
| 2,342 | Bunker Hill IL | 1,593 | $76K | 10.5% | 5.0% | 9% | B− |
| 2,343 | Gower MO | 1,514 | $84K | 10.9% | 2.1% | 7% | B− |
| 2,344 | Boulder MT | 1,305 | $73K | 3.8% | 6.9% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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.
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 Bunker Hill: questions
What is the median household income in Bunker Hill?
$75,917 (±$9,471) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bunker Hill?
10.5%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bunker Hill?
31 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bunker Hill work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Alton (6%, 14 mi), Edwardsville (6%, 17 mi), St. Louis (5%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bunker Hill walkable?
Bunker Hill is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bunker Hill without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bunker Hill, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bunker Hill
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.