Photo: TCP04 · CC BY 4.0With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Clifton works elsewhere
8% of workers have no commute at all, against 16% across Illinois. Employers in Clifton report 236 jobs, against 580 working residents. Jobs and income earn Clifton B−; getting around on foot earns it B−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Clifton apart
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Clifton than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Clifton fell from 340 in 2013 to 236 in 2023, −31%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Clifton workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 35 minutes each way, against 28 across Illinois. Over a year that’s about 268 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical 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; with 580 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Clifton earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Clifton is better than 50% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Clifton’s grade up ($92,344, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 38% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.7%) is left out: Clifton’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Clifton could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Half of Clifton commutes less than 17 miles
About 31% 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.
What Clifton’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clifton, 2013 → 2023: 340 → 236. 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 Clifton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Clifton, about 35 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clifton workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 636 commuters (the 8% 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 Clifton
On a workday 544 residents head out to work, 36 work right here, and 200 people come in from elsewhere.
About 950 people are in Clifton on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
17% of working residents work in Kankakee
Where Clifton clocks in
17% of workers
7% 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.
For most of Clifton, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clifton is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.3% 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 689 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). 4.6% of Clifton households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Clifton’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Clifton ranks: 1,899th of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,897 | Elmira Township MI | 1,775 | $82K | 6.2% | 6.8% | <1% | B− |
| 1,898 | Franklin Township OH | 1,174 | $57K | 5.5% | 2.0% | 1% | B− |
| 1,899 | Clifton IL | 1,298 | $92K | 11.9% | 1.7% | 6% | B− |
| 1,900 | Manly IA | 1,239 | $73K | 6.8% | 3.5% | 6% | B− |
| 1,901 | Smith Township OH | 1,400 | $89K | 6.8% | 10.5% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Clifton, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
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 Clifton: questions
What is the median household income in Clifton?
$92,344 (±$26,232) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clifton?
11.9%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clifton?
35 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clifton work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kankakee (17%, 12 mi), Bradley (7%, 16 mi), Bourbonnais (5%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clifton walkable?
Clifton is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clifton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clifton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clifton
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.