Most of Garden Prairie commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
Hardly any work in Garden Prairie itself; outside it, Rockford draws the most (17%, 18 miles). Garden Prairie has 19 jobs for 96 working residents. 0% of workers work from home, where Illinois as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who leaves Garden Prairie for work, and who comes in
On a workday 96 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 19 people come in from elsewhere.
About 330 people are in Garden Prairie on a workday afternoon, 19% 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 2024, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Garden Prairie’s residents
Where Garden Prairie clocks in
17% of workers
16% 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.
In Garden Prairie, 37% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Garden Prairie, 2014 → 2024: 12 → 19. 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 Garden Prairie’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Garden Prairie
of Garden Prairie workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 71 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.
How far Garden Prairie goes to work
About 20% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
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 Garden Prairie: questions
What is the median household income in Garden Prairie?
$68,319 (±$42,391) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Garden Prairie?
0.0%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Garden Prairie work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rockford (17%, 18 mi), Belvidere (16%, 9 mi), Machesney Park (4%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Garden Prairie without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Garden Prairie, from the people who make the trip.
More of Garden Prairie
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.