Photo: User:Visviva · CC BY-SA 4.0Work means Springfield for more than half of Chatham’s working residents
Only 4% stay in Chatham for work; outside it, Springfield is the main destination (60%, 8 miles). Jobs and income earn Chatham A−; getting around on foot earns it B+. Measured by household income, Chatham is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Chatham, in brief
More than half of Chatham works in Springfield
4,065 working residents, 60%, have their main job in Springfield, 8.5 miles away across the town line. That’s 15 times as many as work in Chatham itself. The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Chatham
66% of Chatham residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 39% of the jobs based in Chatham pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 96% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Chatham is a place people come home to
There are 1,451 jobs based in Chatham, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Chatham has about 9,300 people in it, 36% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Most Chatham residents work close to home
64% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Commutes from Chatham are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 38 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Where Chatham’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Chatham is better than 84% of U.S. towns, #195 of 768 in Illinois. The poverty rate is its strongest input (3.3%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Chatham could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Commuting out of Chatham: the destinations
Where Chatham clocks in
60% 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.
What work there is in Chatham: 1,451 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chatham, 2013 → 2023: 1,417 → 1,451. 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 Chatham’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Chatham, and who commutes in
On a workday 6,489 residents head out to work, 262 work right here, and 1,189 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,300 people are in Chatham on a workday afternoon, 36% fewer than live here.
0.21 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.
How far Chatham goes to work
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.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Chatham
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chatham workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,221 commuters (the 15% 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.
The commute in Chatham is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chatham is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #419 of 768 in Illinois. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 10.8% across Illinois.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 7,344 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 75% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 6% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.9% of Chatham households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Chatham’s commuters take a bus or train.
627th of 2,362: where Chatham ranks among U.S. towns of 10,000 to 20,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Deerfield IL | 19,642 | $182K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 625 | Agoura Hills CA | 19,243 | $171K | 6.5% | 5.2% | 6% | A− |
| 626 | Highland IL | 10,042 | $83K | 6.0% | 1.0% | 23% | A− |
| 627 | Chatham IL | 14,579 | $107K | 3.3% | 3.6% | 4% | A− |
| 628 | Wilton NY | 17,643 | $99K | 4.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A− |
| 629 | Sagamore Hills Township OH | 10,868 | $91K | 8.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,362 | 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 Chatham, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Work next door: 61% of Chatham’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Chatham workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chatham | – | A− | B+ | 23 min | $106,773 |
| Springfield | 60% | C | A | 17 min | $66,064 |
| Capital Township | under 1% | C | A | 17 min | $65,902 |
| Ball Township | under 1% | A | B | 27 min | $140,753 |
| Chatham Township | under 1% | A− | B+ | 19 min | $88,959 |
| Woodside Township | 1% | B | A | 18 min | $73,007 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Springfield. Darker towns draw more of Chatham’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 Chatham: questions
What is the median household income in Chatham?
$106,773 (±$8,322) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chatham?
3.3%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chatham?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chatham work?
4% work in town.
Is Chatham walkable?
Chatham is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chatham without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 6% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chatham, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chatham
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.