Photo: Bradley Furlow · CC BY-SA 4.0Carbondale’s family incomes are lower than in 92% of U.S. towns
Carbondale grades D for jobs and income and A for walkability. Without college students, the poverty rate is 28.8%, where Illinois as a whole has 11.3%. About two in five stay in Carbondale for work; outside it, Marion is the main destination (9%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Carbondale at work: what stands out
Commutes from Carbondale are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Carbondale is where the jobs are
Carbondale has 15,570 jobs, 2.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 31,000 people are in town, 42% more than the 22,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
A young workforce
30% of Carbondale’s working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Carbondale draws workers from far and wide
The 15,570 jobs in Carbondale are filled from a wide area. Carbondale’s own residents hold 17% and the ten next-biggest home towns 26%; the other 57% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Fewer than half of Carbondale workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Carbondale’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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.
Why Carbondale gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On family income, poverty and job access, Carbondale is better than 12% of U.S. towns, #736 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Carbondale’s grade up (ahead of 53% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
37% of Carbondale’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (27% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 28.8%, against 37.4% for all residents. Unemployment (10.4%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($56,955), since student households pull the household median down ($32,128).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Carbondale could be anywhere from D to C−.
About 16 minutes each way, quicker than most of Illinois
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carbondale workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,580 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.
Carbondale on a workday afternoon
On a workday 3,868 residents head out to work, 2,576 work right here, and 12,994 people come in from elsewhere.
About 31,000 people are in Carbondale on a workday afternoon, 42% more than live here.
2.4 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Most jobs in Carbondale are in services
15,570 jobs are based in Carbondale.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carbondale, 2013 → 2023: 16,476 → 15,570. 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 Carbondale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Carbondale’s workers come from
Where Carbondale clocks in
9% of workers
5% of workers
2% 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.
How far it is to work from Carbondale
About 25% 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.
Carbondale is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Carbondale is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #146 of 768 in Illinois. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 14.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 8.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,609 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). 17.5% of Carbondale households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Carbondale’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Carbondale compares with U.S. towns of 15,000 to 29,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Deerfield IL | 19,642 | $182K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | La Grange IL | 15,935 | $160K | 4.6% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,719 | Ponca City OK | 24,225 | $56K | 17.9% | 6.9% | 39% | D |
| 1,720 | Parkersburg WV | 28,593 | $49K | 22.5% | 7.9% | 36% | D |
| 1,721 | Carbondale IL | 21,811 | $32K | 37.4% | 10.4% | 40% | D |
| 1,722 | Madisonville KY | 19,428 | $54K | 23.3% | 6.9% | 43% | D |
| 1,723 | New Iberia LA | 26,533 | $47K | 26.7% | 10.7% | 28% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,787 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Carbondale, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Carbondale and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Carbondale Township (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Carbondale workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carbondale | – | D | A | 16 min | $32,128 |
| Carbondale Township | 1% | — | — | 17 min | — |
| Murphysboro Township | under 2% | C− | B− | 20 min | $52,687 |
Same-state neighbors only. Carbondale Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Carbondale’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.
- Students. 37% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Carbondale: questions
What is the median household income in Carbondale?
$32,128 (±$3,538) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carbondale?
37.4% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 28.8%. Illinois: 11.8%.
How long is the commute from Carbondale?
16 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carbondale work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Marion (9%, 16 mi), Murphysboro (5%, 7 mi), Springfield (2%, 145 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carbondale walkable?
Carbondale is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 15% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carbondale without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carbondale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carbondale
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.