Photo: Ron Frazier · CC BY 2.0At 6.6%, unemployment in Bushnell is higher than in 79% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Bushnell are C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 3% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. About one in five stay in Bushnell for work; outside it, Macomb is the main destination (24%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Bushnell
Bushnell makes and builds things
45% of the jobs based in Bushnell are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Bushnell residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 32%. The jobs ↓
Few Bushnell workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
The four measures behind Bushnell’s grade
The poverty rate holds Bushnell’s grade up (9.8%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 19% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bushnell could be anywhere from D to B+.
In Bushnell, 45% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
708 jobs are based in Bushnell.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bushnell, 2013 → 2023: 831 → 708. 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 Bushnell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Bushnell: about 26 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bushnell workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,374 commuters (the 3% 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 many people are in Bushnell by day
On a workday 880 residents head out to work, 242 work right here, and 466 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,200 people are in Bushnell on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.63 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.
The places Bushnell commutes to
Where Bushnell clocks in
3% 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.
Half of Bushnell commutes less than 14 miles
About 26% 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 Bushnell, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bushnell is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #418 of 768 in Illinois. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 7.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,421 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 Bushnell households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Bushnell’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bushnell places 3,696th of 5,083 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Wayne IL | 2,278 | $162K | 2.1% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,694 | Richwood OH | 2,640 | $64K | 13.1% | 8.0% | 6% | C− |
| 3,695 | Stamford TX | 2,963 | $47K | 20.5% | 1.2% | 25% | C− |
| 3,696 | Bushnell IL | 2,600 | $68K | 9.8% | 6.6% | 22% | C− |
| 3,697 | Isabella Township MI | 2,196 | $62K | 13.1% | 3.9% | 3% | C− |
| 3,698 | Wescott WI | 3,287 | $73K | 15.8% | 5.9% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | 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 Bushnell, 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 Bushnell: questions
What is the median household income in Bushnell?
$67,518 (±$16,726) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bushnell?
9.8%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bushnell?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bushnell work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Macomb (24%, 11 mi), Peoria (5%, 48 mi), Galesburg (3%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bushnell walkable?
Bushnell is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bushnell without a car?
2% 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 Bushnell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bushnell
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.