Photo: ProfDEH at en.wikipedia · Public domainAt 2.4%, unemployment in Chillicothe is lower than in 79% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Chillicothe are B+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. For 6% of workers, the job is at home, where Illinois as a whole has 16%. About one in seven stay in Chillicothe for work; outside it, Peoria is the main destination (32%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Chillicothe in brief
Chillicothe and Peoria trade workers both ways
Peoria is the top workplace for Chillicothe residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Chillicothe come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Chillicothe are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 46 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.
Jobs & income in Chillicothe: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Chillicothe is better than 73% of U.S. towns, #311 of 768 in Illinois. The poverty rate holds Chillicothe’s grade up (3.7%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($66,132, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Chillicothe could be anywhere from B− to A.
Commuting out of Chillicothe: the destinations
Where Chillicothe clocks in
Lines 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.
A commute of about 22 minutes in Chillicothe
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chillicothe workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,411 commuters (the 6% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Chillicothe
On a workday 2,239 residents head out to work, 437 work right here, and 1,124 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,900 people are in Chillicothe on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.58 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.
The kinds of work in Chillicothe
1,561 jobs are based in Chillicothe.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chillicothe, 2013 → 2023: 1,765 → 1,561. 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 Chillicothe’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Chillicothe
About 19% 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.
Getting around Chillicothe: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chillicothe is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns, #520 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Chillicothe 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 2,574 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% 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). 5.4% of Chillicothe households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Chillicothe’s commuters take a bus or train.
Chillicothe places 1,032nd of 3,394 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 4,200 to 8,100
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | South Barrington IL | 5,071 | $222K | 1.0% | 2.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Northfield IL | 5,632 | $162K | 3.2% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Grandwood Park IL | 5,262 | $127K | 2.8% | 2.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,030 | Wamego KS | 4,912 | $79K | 5.2% | 1.6% | 23% | B+ |
| 1,031 | Franklin Township OH | 6,347 | $64K | 23.0% | 4.2% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,032 | Chillicothe IL | 6,033 | $66K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 16% | B+ |
| 1,033 | Noble OK | 7,748 | $82K | 10.8% | 1.2% | 10% | B+ |
| 1,034 | Chalfont PA | 4,419 | $124K | 7.4% | 6.9% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,394 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Chillicothe, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Around Chillicothe: the bordering towns
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Chillicothe workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chillicothe | – | B+ | B− | 22 min | $66,132 |
| Rome | under 2% | B+ | C+ | 20 min | $88,750 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Chillicothe’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 Chillicothe: questions
What is the median household income in Chillicothe?
$66,132 (±$8,595) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chillicothe?
3.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chillicothe?
22 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chillicothe work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Peoria (32%, 13 mi), Mossville (4%, 8 mi), East Peoria (3%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chillicothe walkable?
Chillicothe is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chillicothe without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chillicothe, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chillicothe
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.