Photo: TCP04 · CC BY 4.0Elburn’s household incomes are higher than in 91% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.9 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 36.9 in Chicago. 5.4% of residents live below the poverty line; Illinois has 11.8%. Elburn grades A+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Elburn stands out on work
The four measures behind Elburn’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Elburn is better than 98% of U.S. towns, #28 of 768 in Illinois. Unemployment is its strongest input (0.5%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Elburn could be anywhere from A to A+.
The distance from Elburn to work
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.
Who commutes out of Elburn, and who commutes in
On a workday 3,387 residents head out to work, 177 work right here, and 1,670 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,400 people are in Elburn on a workday afternoon, 24% fewer than live here.
0.52 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.
11% of working residents work in Chicago
Where Elburn clocks in
11% of workers
7% of workers
5% 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.
A place that makes things: 30% of Elburn’s jobs are in goods
1,847 jobs are based in Elburn.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elburn, 2013 → 2023: 1,377 → 1,847. 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 Elburn’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Elburn spends getting to work: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elburn workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,935 commuters (the 18% 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.
Elburn is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Elburn is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns, #305 of 768 in Illinois.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,572 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 28% 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 1.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 67% 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). 3.2% of Elburn households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Elburn’s commuters take a bus or train.
109th of 3,164: where Elburn ranks among U.S. towns of 5,000 to 9,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 107 | Clayton WI | 5,303 | $134K | 3.2% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| 108 | Spring Ridge MD | 5,922 | $146K | 1.8% | 2.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 109 | Elburn IL | 7,084 | $128K | 5.4% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 110 | Little Silver NJ | 6,124 | $241K | 1.2% | 3.3% | 7% | A+ |
| 111 | Grandview Heights OH | 9,112 | $118K | 6.0% | 1.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,164 | 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 Elburn, 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 Elburn: questions
What is the median household income in Elburn?
$127,731 (±$24,556) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elburn?
5.4%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elburn?
28 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elburn work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (11%, 40 mi), St. Charles (7%, 8 mi), Geneva (5%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Elburn walkable?
Elburn is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elburn without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Elburn, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elburn
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.