Photo: Teemu08 · CC BY-SA 3.0Cicero has higher unemployment (5.0%) than 61% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Cicero B−; getting around on foot earns it A+. 6% of workers work from home; Illinois has 16%. About one in ten work in Cicero; the top destination outside it is Chicago (36%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Cicero
Cicero and Chicago trade workers both ways
Chicago is the top workplace for Cicero residents (36%) and also where the most people who work in Cicero come from (31% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Cicero residents work close to home
64% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. Only 3% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
A young workforce
31% of Cicero’s working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
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.
Inside Cicero’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cicero is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #477 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Cicero’s grade up (among the top U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (14.6%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cicero could be anywhere from B− to B.
Where Cicero goes to work
Where Cicero clocks in
36% 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.
Cicero’s commute, mile by mile
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.
The 18,351 jobs based in Cicero
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cicero, 2013 → 2023: 14,062 → 18,351. 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 Cicero’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Cicero on a workday afternoon
On a workday 25,397 residents head out to work, 2,574 work right here, and 15,777 people come in from elsewhere.
About 72,000 people are in Cicero on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.66 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.
About 29 minutes each way, about the IL average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cicero workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 36,574 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.
Cicero is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 38,721 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 85% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 12.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 95% 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). 9.3% of Cicero households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 8% of Cicero’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cicero is 360th of 563 U.S. towns of 57,000 to 111,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Vernon Township IL | 71,353 | $146K | 6.3% | 2.4% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Wheatland Township IL | 92,693 | $173K | 3.2% | 4.0% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Arlington Heights IL | 76,216 | $117K | 6.0% | 3.5% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 358 | Delray Beach FL | 69,809 | $82K | 13.0% | 5.8% | 17% | B− |
| 359 | Rancho Cordova CA | 87,554 | $90K | 12.2% | 7.3% | 15% | B− |
| 360 | Cicero IL | 81,858 | $71K | 14.6% | 5.0% | 9% | B− |
| 361 | Fayetteville AR | 106,623 | $63K | 20.6% | 4.0% | 45% | B− |
| 362 | Springdale AR | 90,685 | $70K | 13.4% | 3.7% | 36% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 563 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Cicero, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
The towns next door employ 38% of Cicero
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cicero workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cicero | – | B− | A+ | 29 min | $70,842 |
| Chicago | 36% | B− | A+ | 33 min | $77,902 |
| Berwyn | 2% | B | A+ | 29 min | $78,408 |
| Berwyn Township | under 2% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| Stickney | under 2% | B | A | 26 min | $66,942 |
| Stickney Township | under 2% | B | A | 30 min | $78,454 |
Same-state neighbors only. Berwyn Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Chicago. Darker towns draw more of Cicero’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 Cicero: questions
What is the median household income in Cicero?
$70,842 (±$3,824) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cicero?
14.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cicero?
29 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cicero work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (36%, 4 mi), Berwyn (2%, 2 mi), Elk Grove Village (2%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cicero walkable?
Cicero is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.7 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cicero without a car?
8% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 85% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cicero, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cicero
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.