Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHouseholds in Clinton have lower incomes than those in 70% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Clinton C+; getting around on foot earns it A−. 14.5% of residents live below the poverty line, where Illinois as a whole has 11.8%. About one in four work in Clinton itself; outside it, Decatur draws the most (10%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Clinton apart on work
Commutes from Clinton are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Clinton trades workers with the towns around it
Clinton has about as many jobs (2,462) as working residents (2,520), but they are mostly different people: 1,766 residents leave for work each day while 1,708 people come in. Only 31% of the jobs in Clinton are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
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.
Why Clinton gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Clinton is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #577 of 768 in Illinois. Unemployment holds Clinton’s grade up (3.7%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Clinton could be anywhere from C− to B.
A commute of about 19 minutes in Clinton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clinton workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,001 commuters (the 9% 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.
Who commutes out of Clinton, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,766 residents head out to work, 754 work right here, and 1,708 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.98 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where people from Clinton work
Where Clinton clocks in
5% of workers
3% 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 Clinton: 2,462 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clinton, 2013 → 2023: 2,600 → 2,462. 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 Clinton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Clinton commutes
About 28% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Clinton
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clinton is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #288 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Clinton 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 3,281 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). 6.3% of Clinton households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Clinton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 4,700 to 9,200, Clinton ranks 2,231st of 3,303 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | South Barrington IL | 5,071 | $222K | 1.0% | 2.0% | 4% | A+ |
| 13 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,229 | Kinderhook NY | 8,091 | $82K | 8.8% | 6.7% | 16% | C+ |
| 2,230 | Lake Montezuma AZ | 4,929 | $64K | 9.7% | 2.4% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,231 | Clinton IL | 6,781 | $62K | 14.5% | 3.7% | 30% | C+ |
| 2,232 | Hastings MI | 7,490 | $58K | 12.5% | 3.7% | 21% | C+ |
| 2,233 | Ghent NY | 5,210 | $82K | 16.4% | 3.5% | 15% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,303 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Clinton, 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 Clinton: questions
What is the median household income in Clinton?
$62,323 (±$6,235) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clinton?
14.5%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clinton?
19 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clinton work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Decatur (10%, 20 mi), Springfield (5%, 44 mi), Bloomington (3%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clinton walkable?
Clinton is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clinton without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clinton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clinton
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.