Photo: Ben Jacobson (Kranar Drogin) · CC BY 2.5Jobs, pay and the trip to work in Forreston
Only 8% stay in Forreston for work; outside it, Freeport is the main destination (19%, 12 miles). Forreston grades B for jobs and income and B for walkability. For 8% of workers, the job is at home, where Illinois as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The figures behind Forreston’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Forreston is better than 55% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Forreston’s grade up (5.7%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 41% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (7.8%) is left out: Forreston’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, Forreston could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
The daily commute in and out of Forreston
On a workday 558 residents head out to work, 46 work right here, and 381 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Forreston on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.71 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.
Out of Forreston to work: where people go
Where Forreston clocks in
19% of workers
9% of workers
4% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Forreston
427 jobs are based in Forreston.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Forreston, 2013 → 2023: 227 → 427. 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 Forreston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 27 minutes to work from Forreston
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Forreston workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 536 commuters (the 8% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Forreston
About 22% 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.
Most of Forreston commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Forreston is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 5.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 585 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). 6.3% of Forreston households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Forreston’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900, Forreston ranks 1,753rd of 5,877 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,751 | Benton Township PA | 1,752 | $65K | 5.2% | 1.4% | 2% | B |
| 1,752 | Enterprise WV | 1,087 | $64K | 4.6% | 8.7% | 2% | B |
| 1,753 | Forreston IL | 1,402 | $71K | 5.7% | 7.8% | 8% | B |
| 1,754 | Jewell Junction IA | 1,238 | $81K | 6.5% | 2.1% | 9% | B |
| 1,755 | Pandora OH | 1,149 | $65K | 2.9% | 1.8% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Forreston, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Around Forreston: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Forreston workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forreston | – | B | B | 27 min | $70,676 |
| Maryland Township | under 2% | — | — | 31 min | — |
| Forreston Township | under 2% | B | C+ | 26 min | $72,061 |
Same-state neighbors only. Maryland Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Forreston’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 Forreston: questions
What is the median household income in Forreston?
$70,676 (±$9,051) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Forreston?
5.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Forreston?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Forreston work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Freeport (19%, 12 mi), Rockford (9%, 28 mi), Chicago (4%, 99 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Forreston walkable?
Forreston is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Forreston without a car?
2% 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 Forreston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Forreston
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.