Photo: TCP04 · CC BY 4.0Springfield draws about half of Divernon’s working residents
Divernon grades C+ for jobs and income and D− for walkability. Only 2% work in Divernon itself; outside it, Springfield draws the most (46%, 15 miles). A typical one-way commute from Divernon lasts 30 minutes (Illinois 28, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Divernon
Nearly half of Divernon works in Springfield
235 working residents, 46%, have their main job in Springfield, 15 miles away. That’s 23 times as many as work in Divernon itself. The commute map ↓
Divernon is a place people come home to
There are 89 jobs based in Divernon, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Divernon has about 690 people in it, 38% fewer than 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; with 506 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Divernon’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Divernon is better than 36% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Divernon’s grade up (ahead of 52% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.1%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (5.7%) is left out: Divernon’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, Divernon could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Where people from Divernon work
Where Divernon clocks in
46% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Divernon
On a workday 497 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 80 people come in from elsewhere.
About 690 people are in Divernon on a workday afternoon, 38% fewer than live here.
0.18 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.
28% of the jobs in Divernon make or build things
89 jobs are based in Divernon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Divernon, 2013 → 2023: 67 → 89. 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 Divernon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Divernon: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Divernon workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 402 commuters (the 21% 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 Divernon to work
About 25% 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 Divernon: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Divernon is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Divernon 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 511 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). 6.7% of Divernon households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Divernon’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Divernon ranks: 1,842nd of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,840 | Brady Township PA | 1,008 | $73K | 6.8% | 5.3% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,841 | Cabot VT | 1,470 | $77K | 9.0% | 1.7% | 9% | C+ |
| 1,842 | Divernon IL | 1,107 | $72K | 16.1% | 5.7% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,843 | Franklin Grove Township IL | 1,199 | $63K | 9.2% | 0.9% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,844 | Spearville Township KS | 1,115 | $73K | 8.5% | 0.0% | 16% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Divernon, 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 Divernon: questions
What is the median household income in Divernon?
$71,750 (±$14,082) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Divernon?
16.1%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Divernon?
30 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Divernon work?
2% work in town.
Is Divernon walkable?
Divernon is near the bottom of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Divernon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Divernon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Divernon
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.