Photo: jrmyers · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Charleston earn less than those in 89% of U.S. towns
26.3% of residents live below the poverty line, against 11.8% across Illinois. The two grades for Charleston are D for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in three work in Charleston; the top destination outside it is Mattoon (14%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Charleston and work: the main findings
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Charleston
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Charleston is better than 12% of U.S. towns, #740 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Charleston’s grade up (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Charleston could be anywhere from D to C−.
Getting to work from Charleston takes about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Charleston workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,842 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.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
In and out of Charleston on a workday
On a workday 4,396 residents head out to work, 2,013 work right here, and 5,377 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.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.15 per resident).
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 towns that employ Charleston’s residents
Where Charleston clocks in
14% of workers
4% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Charleston
7,390 jobs are based in Charleston.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Charleston, 2013 → 2023: 8,210 → 7,390. 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 Charleston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Charleston’s workers travel
About 23% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Charleston
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Charleston is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns, #176 of 768 in Illinois. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 11.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 8.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,605 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). 8.6% of Charleston households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Charleston’s commuters take a bus or train.
Charleston next to U.S. towns of 12,000 to 24,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Deerfield IL | 19,642 | $182K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,004 | Prichard AL | 18,825 | $37K | 30.6% | 10.1% | 4% | D |
| 2,005 | Dyersburg TN | 15,906 | $52K | 21.6% | 7.4% | 46% | D |
| 2,006 | Charleston IL | 17,466 | $49K | 26.3% | 6.1% | 31% | D |
| 2,007 | Oroville CA | 20,451 | $52K | 21.4% | 7.7% | 32% | D |
| 2,008 | La Grande OR | 12,985 | $58K | 20.9% | 6.1% | 50% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,103 | 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 Charleston, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Next door is work for 15% of Charleston
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Charleston workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charleston | – | D | A | 15 min | $49,300 |
| Charleston Township | 1% | — | — | 16 min | — |
| Hutton Township | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Mattoon | 14% | D | B | 18 min | $51,597 |
Same-state neighbors only. Charleston Township: not graded. Hutton Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Mattoon. Darker towns draw more of Charleston’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 Charleston: questions
What is the median household income in Charleston?
$49,300 (±$5,782) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Charleston?
26.3%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Charleston?
15 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Charleston work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mattoon (14%, 10 mi), Lafayette Township (5%, 6 mi), Champaign (4%, 44 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Charleston walkable?
Charleston is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Charleston without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Charleston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Charleston
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.