Garfield Township has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.5 for each
Working from home is the commute for 2% of workers, next to 16% for Illinois as a whole. Employers in Garfield Township report 364 jobs; 671 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Garfield Township are B− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Garfield Township and work: the main findings
Garfield Township’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Garfield Township is Chicago, 58 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (67) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
52% of the jobs in Garfield Township are in trade, transport and utilities, against 31% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Few Garfield Township 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 671 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Garfield Township’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Garfield Township is better than 47% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Garfield Township’s grade up ($88,092, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.0%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (12.8%) is left out: Garfield Township’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, Garfield Township could be anywhere from C+ to B.
Short hops and long hauls from Garfield Township
About 27% 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 Garfield Township pay over $3,333 a month
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Garfield Township, 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 Garfield Township’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 Garfield Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 749 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.
The daily commute in and out of Garfield Township
On a workday 645 residents head out to work, 26 work right here, and 338 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Garfield Township on a workday afternoon, 21% 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 2023, primary jobs.
10% of working residents work in Chicago
Where Garfield Township 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.
Getting around Garfield Township: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Garfield Township is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns. 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 761 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). 4.5% of Garfield Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Garfield Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Garfield Township places 2,381st of 6,308 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,379 | Gardner IL | 1,366 | $88K | 16.1% | 13.5% | 4% | B− |
| 2,380 | Johnson City KS | 1,402 | $71K | 1.7% | 1.3% | 35% | B− |
| 2,381 | Garfield Township IL | 1,452 | $88K | 16.0% | 12.8% | 4% | B− |
| 2,382 | Brandywine Township IN | 1,877 | $67K | 10.0% | 5.6% | 3% | B− |
| 2,383 | Nobleboro ME | 1,909 | $100K | 10.4% | 4.2% | 6% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | 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 Garfield Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Garfield Township and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Gardner (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Garfield Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garfield Township | – | B− | C+ | 30 min | $88,092 |
| Greenfield Township | under 2% | B+ | C− | 35 min | $88,750 |
| Goodfarm Township | under 2% | — | — | 17 min | — |
| Gardner | 4% | B− | C+ | 30 min | $88,092 |
| Maine Township | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Goodfarm Township and Maine Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Garfield Township’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 Garfield Township: questions
What is the median household income in Garfield Township?
$88,092 (±$10,249) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Garfield Township?
16.0%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Garfield Township?
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 Garfield Township work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (10%, 58 mi), Morris (6%, 17 mi), Joliet (6%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Garfield Township walkable?
Garfield Township is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Garfield Township 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 Garfield Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Garfield Township
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.