Households in Gardner earn more than those in 66% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 2% of workers, against 16% across Illinois. The poverty rate is 16.1%; Illinois has 11.8%. For jobs and income Gardner is better than 47% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (C+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Gardner at work: what stands out
Gardner’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Gardner is Chicago, 55 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (64) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
52% of the jobs in Gardner are in trade, transport and utilities, against 32% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Few Gardner workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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; with 621 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Gardner
Household income holds Gardner’s grade up ($88,092, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (13.5%) is left out: Gardner’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, Gardner could be anywhere from C+ to B.
How far Gardner’s workers travel
About 28% 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.
70% of the jobs in Gardner pay over $3,333 a month
364 jobs are based in Gardner.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gardner, 2013 → 2023: 337 → 364. 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 Gardner’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 30 minutes each way, longer than most of Illinois
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gardner workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 699 commuters (the 2% 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 commutes out of Gardner, and who commutes in
On a workday 596 residents head out to work, 25 work right here, and 339 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Gardner on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.59 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.
10% of working residents work in Chicago
Where Gardner clocks in
10% of workers
6% of workers
6% 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.
For most of Gardner, work means a drive
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% 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 711 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). 4.9% of Gardner households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Gardner’s commuters take a bus or train.
Gardner next to U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,800: 2,017th of 5,400 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,015 | Continental OH | 1,103 | $75K | 7.2% | 4.7% | 3% | B− |
| 2,016 | Cassville WV | 1,149 | $90K | 15.1% | 0.0% | <1% | B− |
| 2,017 | Gardner IL | 1,366 | $88K | 16.1% | 13.5% | 4% | B− |
| 2,018 | Johnson City KS | 1,402 | $71K | 1.7% | 1.3% | 35% | B− |
| 2,019 | Garfield Township IL | 1,452 | $88K | 16.0% | 12.8% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | 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 Gardner, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Gardner and its neighbors
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Gardner workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gardner | – | B− | C+ | 30 min | $88,092 |
| Garfield Township | under 2% | B− | C+ | 30 min | $88,092 |
| Greenfield Township | under 2% | B+ | C− | 35 min | $88,750 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Gardner’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 Gardner: questions
What is the median household income in Gardner?
$88,092 (±$10,228) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gardner?
16.1%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gardner?
30 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gardner work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (10%, 55 mi), Morris (6%, 14 mi), Joliet (6%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gardner walkable?
Gardner is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gardner without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gardner, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gardner
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.