St. Mary's Church of Gilberts · Photo: Smallbones · Public domainHousehold incomes in Gilberts top those of 94% of U.S. towns
Only 2% stay in Gilberts for work; outside it, Chicago is the main destination (14%, 40 miles). Poverty touches 5.5% of residents; Illinois has 11.8%. Gilberts grades A 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
Gilberts and work: the main findings
Gilberts’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Gilberts is Chicago, 40 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (704) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Gilberts has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Gilberts went from 739 in 2013 to 1,252 in 2023, +69%. The jobs ↓
Gilberts is a place people come home to
There are 1,252 jobs based in Gilberts, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Gilberts has about 5,200 people in it, 43% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Gilberts makes and builds things
39% of the jobs based in Gilberts are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Gilberts residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 15%. The jobs ↓
Most jobs in Gilberts pay over $40,000 a year
73% of the jobs based in Gilberts pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Gilberts
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Gilberts is better than 91% of U.S. towns, #103 of 768 in Illinois. Household income is its strongest input ($146,333, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gilberts could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Near or far: the trip to work from Gilberts
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.
Goods jobs make up 39% of work in Gilberts
1,252 jobs are based in Gilberts.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gilberts, 2013 → 2023: 739 → 1,252. 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 Gilberts’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Gilberts on a workday
On a workday 5,049 residents head out to work, 79 work right here, and 1,173 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,200 people are in Gilberts on a workday afternoon, 43% fewer than live here.
0.24 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.
The towns that employ Gilberts’ residents
Where Gilberts clocks in
14% of workers
11% of workers
5% 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.
From Gilberts, about 29 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gilberts workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,087 commuters (the 21% 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.
In Gilberts, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gilberts is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns, #671 of 768 in Illinois. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% 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 5,144 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 4% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 49% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.6% of Gilberts households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Gilberts’ commuters take a bus or train.
Gilberts is 374th of 2,855 U.S. towns of 6,400 to 12,300 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Itasca IL | 9,488 | $114K | 2.0% | 2.6% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 372 | Ogden NC | 8,249 | $121K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 4% | A |
| 373 | Innsbrook VA | 8,578 | $129K | 5.0% | 3.6% | 11% | A |
| 374 | Gilberts IL | 9,082 | $146K | 5.5% | 3.7% | 2% | A |
| 375 | Rumson NJ | 7,157 | $250K | 3.2% | 4.5% | 7% | A |
| 376 | Watchung NJ | 6,583 | $174K | 1.2% | 6.1% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,855 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Gilberts, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
11% of Gilberts works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Gilberts workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gilberts | – | A | C | 29 min | $146,333 |
| West Dundee | under 2% | A | B+ | 26 min | $105,368 |
| Elgin | 11% | B | A | 28 min | $90,282 |
| Rutland Township | under 2% | A | C+ | 30 min | $105,703 |
| Dundee Township | under 2% | A− | B+ | 29 min | $98,089 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Elgin. Darker towns draw more of Gilberts’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 Gilberts: questions
What is the median household income in Gilberts?
$146,333 (±$21,666) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gilberts?
5.5%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gilberts?
29 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gilberts work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (14%, 40 mi), Elgin (11%, 5 mi), Schaumburg (5%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gilberts walkable?
Gilberts is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gilberts without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gilberts, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gilberts
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.