Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Kelly Martin assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Galva are lower than in 85% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 8% of workers, next to 16% for Illinois as a whole. Poverty touches 18.8% of residents, where Illinois as a whole has 11.8%. The two grades for Galva are C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Galva apart on work
Jobs & income in Galva: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Galva is better than 19% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Galva’s grade up (3.8%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($52,470, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Galva could be anywhere from D to C+.
How long Galva spends getting to work: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Galva workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 944 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.
Who works in Galva, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 755 residents head out to work, 238 work right here, and 582 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 (0.83 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.
14% of working residents work in Kewanee
Where Galva clocks in
14% of workers
6% 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.
What work there is in Galva: 820 jobs
820 jobs are based in Galva.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Galva, 2013 → 2023: 630 → 820. 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 Galva’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Galva goes to work
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.
Galva is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Galva is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 6.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,029 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). 8.3% of Galva households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Galva’s commuters take a bus or train.
Galva is 3,826th of 4,995 U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,200 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 59 | Wayne IL | 2,278 | $162K | 2.1% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,824 | Necedah WI | 2,493 | $58K | 9.7% | 4.4% | 5% | C− |
| 3,825 | Abingdon IL | 2,832 | $62K | 9.2% | 10.3% | 13% | C− |
| 3,826 | Galva IL | 2,383 | $52K | 18.8% | 3.8% | 24% | C− |
| 3,827 | Osceola WI | 2,890 | $53K | 14.1% | 7.4% | 19% | C− |
| 3,828 | Selma Township MI | 2,267 | $65K | 11.7% | 15.9% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,995 | 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 Galva, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
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 Galva: questions
What is the median household income in Galva?
$52,470 (±$6,625) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Galva?
18.8%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Galva?
21 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Galva work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kewanee (14%, 8 mi), Galesburg (6%, 23 mi), Geneseo (4%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Galva walkable?
Galva is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Galva without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Galva, from the people who make the trip.
More of Galva
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.