Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Cambria’s household incomes are lower than in 77% of U.S. towns
For 7% of workers, the job is at home, where Illinois as a whole has 16%. Below the poverty line: 18.5% of residents, next to 11.8% for Illinois as a whole. Jobs and income earn Cambria C−; getting around on foot earns it D.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Cambria at work: what stands out
The four measures behind Cambria’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Cambria is better than 19% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Cambria’s grade up (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (5.2%) is left out: Cambria’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, Cambria could be anywhere from D to C.
About 21 minutes each way for Cambria’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cambria workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 602 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 many people are in Cambria by day
On a workday 513 residents head out to work, 23 work right here, and 350 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.
0.70 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.
22% of working residents work in Carbondale
Where Cambria clocks in
22% of workers
19% 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.
Most jobs in Cambria are in services
373 jobs are based in Cambria.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cambria, 2013 → 2023: 127 → 373. 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 Cambria’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Cambria’s workers travel
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.
Driving is how Cambria gets around
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 647 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). 3.5% of Cambria households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cambria’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Cambria is 3,887th among 5,343 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Bannockburn IL | 1,308 | $214K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| 37 | Port Barrington IL | 1,584 | $150K | 2.7% | 2.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,885 | Sylvania AL | 1,853 | $56K | 10.6% | 5.4% | 1% | C− |
| 3,886 | Virginia IL | 1,442 | $59K | 12.7% | 4.1% | 10% | C− |
| 3,887 | Cambria IL | 1,796 | $58K | 18.5% | 5.2% | 4% | C− |
| 3,888 | Oakland City IN | 2,274 | $49K | 14.2% | 6.2% | 8% | C− |
| 3,889 | Rockwell City IA | 2,133 | $57K | 10.4% | 1.8% | 17% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Cambria, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Next door to Cambria
The biggest share goes to Carterville (3%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cambria workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cambria | – | C− | D | 21 min | $57,756 |
| Carterville | 3% | C+ | C+ | 20 min | $62,337 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cambria’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 Cambria: questions
What is the median household income in Cambria?
$57,756 (±$7,559) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cambria?
18.5%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cambria?
21 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cambria work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Carbondale (22%, 7 mi), Marion (19%, 10 mi), Herrin (8%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cambria walkable?
Cambria is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cambria without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cambria, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cambria
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.