Photo: Calvin Beale · Public domainAt 2.4%, unemployment in Carlinville is lower than in 79% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Carlinville is behind 77% of U.S. towns. The two grades for Carlinville are C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Home is the office for 8% of workers, next to 16% for Illinois as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Carlinville and work: the main findings
Carlinville’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Carlinville is Springfield, 38 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (236) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Carlinville are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Income, poverty and work: Carlinville’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Carlinville is better than 28% of U.S. towns, #645 of 768 in Illinois. Unemployment holds Carlinville’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (20.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Carlinville could be anywhere from D to B−.
The commute from Carlinville, by distance
About 21% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The daily trip from Carlinville: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carlinville workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,037 commuters (the 8% 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.
Carlinville by day and by night
On a workday 1,600 residents head out to work, 739 work right here, and 2,310 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,200 people are in Carlinville on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.30 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
10% of working residents work in Springfield
Where Carlinville clocks in
10% of workers
6% 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.
Inside Carlinville’s 3,049 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carlinville, 2014 → 2024: 2,694 → 3,049. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Carlinville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Carlinville is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Carlinville is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #236 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Carlinville near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,204 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). 4.6% of Carlinville households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Carlinville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 3,800 to 7,400, Carlinville ranks 2,732nd of 3,612 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | South Barrington IL | 5,071 | $222K | 1.0% | 2.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 41 | Northfield IL | 5,632 | $162K | 3.2% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 84 | Grandwood Park IL | 5,262 | $127K | 2.8% | 2.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,730 | Larose LA | 5,515 | $81K | 12.0% | 7.4% | 9% | C |
| 2,731 | Bethel AK | 6,626 | $117K | 11.6% | 8.3% | — | C |
| 2,732 | Carlinville IL | 5,465 | $58K | 20.5% | 2.4% | 32% | C |
| 2,733 | Delphos OH | 7,096 | $61K | 12.2% | 5.6% | 16% | C |
| 2,734 | Hayward WI | 3,928 | $67K | 15.9% | 3.2% | 23% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,612 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Carlinville, 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 2024, 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 Carlinville: questions
What is the median household income in Carlinville?
$57,708 (±$11,155) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carlinville?
20.5%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carlinville?
21 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carlinville work?
32% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (10%, 38 mi), Carlinville Township (6%, 2 mi), Litchfield (3%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Carlinville walkable?
Carlinville is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carlinville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carlinville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carlinville
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.