Household incomes in East Nelson Township top those of 80% of U.S. towns
5% of workers have no commute at all; Illinois has 16%. 5.6% of residents are in poverty, next to 11.8% for Illinois as a whole. For jobs and income East Nelson Township is better than 68% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (B−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How East Nelson Township earns its Jobs & income grade
Household income holds East Nelson Township’s grade up ($104,375, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 30% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: East Nelson Township’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, East Nelson Township could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
East Nelson Township quiets down on a workday
On a workday 440 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 260 people come in from elsewhere.
About 830 people are in East Nelson Township on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.60 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.
14% of working residents work in Arthur
Where East Nelson Township clocks in
14% of workers
13% 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.
Making and building: 81% of jobs based in East Nelson Township
268 jobs are based in East Nelson Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in East Nelson Township, 2013 → 2023: 179 → 268. 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 East Nelson Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long East Nelson Township spends getting to work: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of East Nelson Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 421 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from East Nelson Township
About 29% 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.
The commute in East Nelson Township is mostly behind the wheel
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 4.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 445 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). 0.8% of East Nelson Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of East Nelson Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
How East Nelson Township ranks: 528th of 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| 20 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 526 | Brussels WI | 1,089 | $101K | 6.0% | 2.9% | 3% | B+ |
| 527 | Fowler MI | 1,237 | $74K | 3.1% | 0.0% | 6% | B+ |
| 528 | East Nelson Township IL | 1,007 | $104K | 5.6% | 0.0% | 2% | B+ |
| 529 | Railroad Township IN | 1,219 | $90K | 1.8% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| 530 | Northwest Township OH | 1,100 | $105K | 5.3% | 4.8% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | 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 East Nelson Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Next door to East Nelson Township
The biggest share goes to Jonathan Creek Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | East Nelson Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Nelson Township | – | B+ | B− | 26 min | $104,375 |
| Sullivan Township | under 3% | B | A | 18 min | $68,984 |
| Jonathan Creek Township | 3% | A− | B− | 20 min | $102,188 |
| North Okaw Township | under 3% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Whitley Township | under 3% | — | — | 30 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. North Okaw Township: not graded. Whitley Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of East Nelson Township’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 East Nelson Township: questions
What is the median household income in East Nelson Township?
$104,375 (±$25,527) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in East Nelson Township?
5.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from East Nelson Township?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in East Nelson Township work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Arthur (14%, 11 mi), Sullivan (13%, 4 mi), Bourbon Township (7%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is East Nelson Township walkable?
East Nelson Township is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around East Nelson Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from East Nelson Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of East Nelson Township
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.