Making a living in Cherry Grove-Shannon Township
Working residents average 27 minutes each way (Illinois 28, U.S. 26). The two grades for Cherry Grove-Shannon Township are C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in ten work in Cherry Grove-Shannon Township itself; outside it, Lanark draws the most (10%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Cherry Grove-Shannon Township: the gist
Income, poverty and work: Cherry Grove-Shannon Township’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Cherry Grove-Shannon Township is better than 22% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Cherry Grove-Shannon Township’s grade up ($74,191, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (17.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (3.6%) is left out: Cherry Grove-Shannon Township’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Cherry Grove-Shannon Township could be anywhere from D to B−.
What work there is in Cherry Grove-Shannon Township: 467 jobs
467 jobs are based in Cherry Grove-Shannon Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cherry Grove-Shannon Township, 2014 → 2024: 301 → 467. 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 Cherry Grove-Shannon Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Cherry Grove-Shannon Township
On a workday 574 residents head out to work, 76 work right here, and 391 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Cherry Grove-Shannon Township on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.72 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 2024, primary jobs.
The places Cherry Grove-Shannon Township commutes to
Where Cherry Grove-Shannon Township clocks in
10% 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 long Cherry Grove-Shannon Township spends getting to work: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cherry Grove-Shannon Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 570 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.
The distance from Cherry Grove-Shannon Township to work
About 26% 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.
For most of Cherry Grove-Shannon Township, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cherry Grove-Shannon Township is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 7.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 650 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). 2.7% of Cherry Grove-Shannon Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cherry Grove-Shannon Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Cherry Grove-Shannon Township is 3,892nd among 5,794 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Bannockburn IL | 1,308 | $214K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,890 | Mayfield Township MI | 1,841 | $74K | 15.7% | 6.9% | 1% | C− |
| 3,891 | Decatur AR | 1,893 | $45K | 11.8% | 5.2% | 2% | C− |
| 3,892 | Cherry Grove-Shannon Township IL | 1,574 | $74K | 17.3% | 3.6% | 12% | C− |
| 3,893 | Connellsville Township PA | 2,008 | $55K | 18.8% | 13.6% | 3% | C− |
| 3,894 | Wells VT | 1,195 | $75K | 15.5% | 6.4% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Cherry Grove-Shannon Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Next door to Cherry Grove-Shannon Township
The biggest share goes to Lake Carroll (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cherry Grove-Shannon Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cherry Grove-Shannon Township | – | C− | B+ | 27 min | $74,191 |
| Freedom Township | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Rock Creek-Lima Township | under 2% | C | B+ | 25 min | $68,056 |
| Forreston Township | under 2% | B | C+ | 26 min | $72,061 |
| Lake Carroll | 4% | — | — | 30 min | — |
| Loran Township | under 2% | B− | D | 25 min | $73,000 |
| Jefferson Township | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Freedom Township, Lake Carroll and Jefferson Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cherry Grove-Shannon Township’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 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 Cherry Grove-Shannon Township: questions
What is the median household income in Cherry Grove-Shannon Township?
$74,191 (±$7,834) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cherry Grove-Shannon Township?
17.3%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cherry Grove-Shannon Township?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cherry Grove-Shannon Township work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lanark (10%, 4 mi), Freeport (10%, 12 mi), Shannon (7%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Cherry Grove-Shannon Township walkable?
Cherry Grove-Shannon Township is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cherry Grove-Shannon Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cherry Grove-Shannon Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cherry Grove-Shannon Township
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.