Photo: Stevedrone91 · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Dixon trail those of 75% of U.S. towns
17.8% of residents live below the poverty line; Illinois has 11.8%. The two grades for Dixon are C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 5% of workers work from home, next to 16% for Illinois as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Dixon, in a few figures
Dixon trades workers with the towns around it
Dixon has about as many jobs (7,325) as working residents (6,523), but they are mostly different people: 4,712 residents leave for work each day while 5,514 people come in. Only 25% of the jobs in Dixon are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Dixon are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% 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 ↓
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 Dixon’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dixon is better than 23% of U.S. towns, #683 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Dixon’s grade up (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dixon could be anywhere from D to C+.
Who leaves Dixon for work, and who comes in
On a workday 4,712 residents head out to work, 1,811 work right here, and 5,514 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 (1.12 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.
Getting to work from Dixon takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dixon workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,447 commuters (the 5% 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.
Miles to work from Dixon
About 35% 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.
7% of working residents work in Sterling
Where Dixon clocks in
7% of workers
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 Dixon: 7,325 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dixon, 2013 → 2023: 6,434 → 7,325. 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 Dixon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
For most of Dixon, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dixon is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #421 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Dixon 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 5,719 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). 10.5% of Dixon households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Dixon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Dixon is 2,020th of 2,362 U.S. towns of 10,000 to 20,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Deerfield IL | 19,642 | $182K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,018 | Morganton NC | 17,849 | $51K | 25.7% | 3.8% | 36% | C− |
| 2,019 | Show Low AZ | 12,471 | $60K | 12.2% | 4.7% | 39% | C− |
| 2,020 | Dixon IL | 14,582 | $59K | 17.8% | 5.2% | 28% | C− |
| 2,021 | Brownsville FL | 16,936 | $41K | 26.2% | 7.5% | 2% | C− |
| 2,022 | Warrington FL | 15,918 | $62K | 22.5% | 6.3% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,362 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Dixon, 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 Dixon: questions
What is the median household income in Dixon?
$59,406 (±$4,100) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dixon?
17.8%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dixon?
21 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dixon work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sterling (7%, 12 mi), Chicago (5%, 92 mi), Dixon Township (3%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dixon walkable?
Dixon is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dixon without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dixon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dixon
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.