Household incomes in Ford Heights are lower than in 98% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 26.6% of residents (Illinois 11.8%). For jobs and income Ford Heights is better than 26% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (A+). Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 36.9 in Chicago.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Ford Heights
Ford Heights makes and builds things
91% of the jobs based in Ford Heights are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Ford Heights residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 11%. The jobs ↓
Ford Heights is where the jobs are
Ford Heights has 1,674 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,700 people are in town, 52% more than the 1,800 who live here. Day and night ↓
Many of the people who work in Ford Heights live in another state
Hammond, IN (4%), Merrillville, IN (3%) and Crown Point, IN (3%) are among the top places Ford Heights’ workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 17% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 762 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Ford Heights
Job access by car holds Ford Heights’ grade up (ahead of 91% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($36,053, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (13.9%) is left out: Ford Heights’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, Ford Heights could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Goods, not services: 91% of the jobs in Ford Heights
1,674 jobs are based in Ford Heights.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ford Heights, 2014 → 2024: 1,829 → 1,674. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Ford Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Ford Heights by day and by night
On a workday 749 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 1,661 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Ford Heights on a workday afternoon, 52% more than live here.
2.2 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Commuting in to Ford Heights: where workers come from
Where Ford Heights clocks in
30% 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.
About 32 minutes each way, longer than most of Illinois
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ford Heights workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 420 commuters (the 0% 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.
Ford Heights’ commute, mile by mile
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Ford Heights
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 420 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 53% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 74% 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). 29.0% of Ford Heights households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 12% of Ford Heights’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Ford Heights ranks: 3,916th of 6,085 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Bannockburn IL | 1,308 | $214K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,914 | Cumberland Valley Township PA | 1,441 | $67K | 8.6% | 0.0% | 1% | C |
| 3,915 | Cross Creek Township PA | 1,358 | $68K | 16.4% | 12.2% | 4% | C |
| 3,916 | Ford Heights IL | 1,751 | $36K | 26.6% | 13.9% | 2% | C |
| 3,917 | Selby Township IL | 2,101 | $67K | 12.5% | 6.2% | 1% | C |
| 3,918 | Essex Township MI | 1,847 | $71K | 16.6% | 4.5% | 6% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Ford Heights, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
The towns around Ford Heights
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ford Heights workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Heights | – | C | A+ | 32 min | $36,053 |
| Sauk Village | under 2% | C | A | 35 min | $69,973 |
| Lynwood | under 2% | B | B | 50 min | $85,237 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ford Heights’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 2024, 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 Ford Heights: questions
What is the median household income in Ford Heights?
$36,053 (±$9,696) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ford Heights?
26.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ford Heights?
32 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ford Heights work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (30%, 23 mi), Chicago Heights (5%, 3 mi), Homewood (3%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Ford Heights walkable?
Ford Heights is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 11.6 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ford Heights without a car?
12% of commuters take transit and 29% of households have no car. 53% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ford Heights, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ford Heights
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.