About half of Forsyth’s working residents commute to Decatur
The two grades for Forsyth are B for jobs and income and B for walkability. Measured by household income, Forsyth is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns. Working from home is the commute for 8% of workers (Illinois 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Forsyth at work: what stands out
Forsyth trades workers with the towns around it
Forsyth has about as many jobs (1,627) as working residents (1,423), but they are mostly different people: 1,351 residents leave for work each day while 1,555 people come in. Only 4% of the jobs in Forsyth are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
More than half of Forsyth works in Decatur
711 working residents, 50%, have their main job in Decatur, 5.1 miles away across the town line. That’s 10 times as many as work in Forsyth itself. The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Forsyth
64% of Forsyth residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 32% of the jobs based in Forsyth pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 95% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Forsyth are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
35% of the jobs based in Forsyth are held by workers 29 or younger, against 18% of Forsyth’s own working residents. 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.
Jobs & income in Forsyth: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Forsyth is better than 63% of U.S. towns, #396 of 768 in Illinois. Household income holds Forsyth’s grade up ($112,000, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.3%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Forsyth could be anywhere from C to A+.
Forsyth by day and by night
On a workday 1,351 residents head out to work, 72 work right here, and 1,555 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 (1.14 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.
Where Forsyth’s working residents head each day
Where Forsyth clocks in
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.
What work there is in Forsyth: 1,627 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Forsyth, 2013 → 2023: 1,894 → 1,627. 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 Forsyth’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 18 minutes in Forsyth
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Forsyth workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,218 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.
Where in the region Forsyth works
About 21% 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.
Driving is how Forsyth gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Forsyth is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns, #495 of 768 in Illinois. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.6% of 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 1,325 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). 3.7% of Forsyth households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Forsyth’s commuters take a bus or train.
Forsyth next to U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,900: 1,621st of 4,474 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Deer Park IL | 3,647 | $174K | 1.3% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Lakewood IL | 4,293 | $174K | 3.5% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,619 | New Castle CO | 4,896 | $80K | 6.2% | 0.8% | 5% | B |
| 1,620 | Harrington DE | 3,974 | $73K | 6.9% | 2.9% | 8% | B |
| 1,621 | Forsyth IL | 3,613 | $112K | 11.3% | 4.6% | 5% | B |
| 1,622 | Buchanan MI | 4,143 | $56K | 7.1% | 2.2% | 11% | B |
| 1,623 | South Toms River NJ | 3,895 | $104K | 7.3% | 8.0% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,474 | 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 Forsyth, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
50% of Forsyth works in a town next door
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Decatur. Darker towns draw more of Forsyth’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 Forsyth: questions
What is the median household income in Forsyth?
$112,000 (±$15,872) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Forsyth?
11.3%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Forsyth?
18 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Forsyth work?
5% work in town.
Is Forsyth walkable?
Forsyth is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Forsyth without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Forsyth, from the people who make the trip.
More of Forsyth
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.