Photo: Languageteaching on Flickr · CC BY 2.0Eureka has higher unemployment (7.7%) than 87% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are lower than in 80% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Eureka C; getting around on foot earns it B+. About one in five work in Eureka; the top destination outside it is Peoria (13%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Eureka
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Eureka is better than 28% of U.S. towns, #643 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Eureka’s grade up (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Eureka could be anywhere from D to A−.
A workday in Eureka: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,812 residents head out to work, 407 work right here, and 1,449 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 (0.84 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.
The places Eureka commutes to
Where Eureka clocks in
7% of workers
6% 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 the 1,856 jobs in Eureka are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Eureka, 2013 → 2023: 1,931 → 1,856. 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 Eureka’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Eureka, about 32 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Eureka workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,840 commuters (the 12% 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 commute from Eureka, by distance
About 20% 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.
For most of Eureka, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Eureka is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns, #390 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Eureka 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 2,100 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). 5.5% of Eureka households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Eureka’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Eureka is 2,727th of 3,627 U.S. towns of 3,600 to 6,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | South Barrington IL | 5,071 | $222K | 1.0% | 2.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Deer Park IL | 3,647 | $174K | 1.3% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,725 | Redwood OR | 3,721 | $68K | 10.8% | 6.3% | <1% | C |
| 2,726 | Olivarez TX | 6,326 | $65K | 19.2% | 6.8% | <1% | C |
| 2,727 | Eureka IL | 5,129 | $56K | 10.8% | 7.7% | 18% | C |
| 2,728 | Chester IL | 6,847 | $81K | 21.7% | 4.7% | 24% | C |
| 2,729 | Pocomoke City MD | 4,421 | $53K | 15.3% | 3.0% | 15% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,627 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Eureka, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Eureka and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Eureka workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eureka | – | C | B+ | 32 min | $56,048 |
| Cruger Township | under 3% | A | C− | 31 min | $108,024 |
| Olio Township | under 3% | C | B+ | 27 min | $55,708 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Eureka’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 Eureka: questions
What is the median household income in Eureka?
$56,048 (±$14,410) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Eureka?
10.8%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Eureka?
32 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Eureka work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Peoria (13%, 18 mi), Bloomington (7%, 23 mi), Normal (6%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Eureka walkable?
Eureka is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Eureka 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 Eureka, from the people who make the trip.
More of Eureka
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.