Photo: Dual Freq · CC BY 2.5Most of Fisher commutes out: there are 0.4 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Fisher report 302 jobs, against 857 working residents. Jobs and income earn Fisher A−; getting around on foot earns it D. Only 7% work in Fisher itself; outside it, Champaign draws the most (25%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Fisher: the figures worth knowing
The better-paid jobs are outside Fisher
65% of Fisher residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 39% of the jobs based in Fisher pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 93% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Fisher pay little
26% of the jobs based in Fisher pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
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 857 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Fisher’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Fisher is better than 80% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Fisher’s grade up (2.1%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 39% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (2.0%) is left out: Fisher’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, Fisher could be anywhere from B+ to A−.
What Fisher’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fisher, 2013 → 2023: 269 → 302. 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 Fisher’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Fisher by day and by night
On a workday 798 residents head out to work, 59 work right here, and 243 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Fisher on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
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 towns that employ Fisher’s residents
Where Fisher clocks in
25% 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.
How long Fisher spends getting to work: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fisher workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 712 commuters (the 15% 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 Fisher to work
About 19% 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 Fisher, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fisher is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 10.8% across Illinois.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 836 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). 0.0% of Fisher households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fisher’s commuters take a bus or train.
Fisher is 691st of 5,148 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,800 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Port Barrington IL | 1,584 | $150K | 2.7% | 2.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 689 | Gale WI | 1,743 | $105K | 4.6% | 2.1% | 1% | A− |
| 690 | Wheaton WI | 2,785 | $103K | 7.1% | 2.4% | 3% | A− |
| 691 | Fisher IL | 2,087 | $98K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 7% | A− |
| 692 | Riley Township MI | 2,028 | $95K | 4.9% | 3.6% | 1% | A− |
| 693 | Wright-Patterson AFB OH | 1,508 | $90K | 7.0% | 10.8% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,148 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Fisher, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
How Fisher compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Brown Township (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fisher workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fisher | – | A− | D | 30 min | $97,702 |
| Brown Township | 2% | A− | C | 28 min | $91,429 |
| East Bend Township | under 2% | — | — | 39 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. East Bend Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fisher’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 Fisher: questions
What is the median household income in Fisher?
$97,702 (±$11,141) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fisher?
2.1%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fisher?
30 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fisher work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Champaign (25%, 14 mi), Urbana (13%, 16 mi), Gibson City (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fisher walkable?
Fisher is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fisher without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fisher, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fisher
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.