Photo: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.0Glen Carbon has higher household incomes than 75% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Glen Carbon A−; getting around on foot earns it C+. 4.9% of residents live below the poverty line; Illinois has 11.8%. Only 6% work in Glen Carbon; the top destination outside it is Edwardsville (15%, 2 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Glen Carbon: the figures worth knowing
Glen Carbon trades workers with the towns around it
Glen Carbon has about as many jobs (5,818) as working residents (6,193), but they are mostly different people: 5,812 residents leave for work each day while 5,437 people come in. Only 7% of the jobs in Glen Carbon are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Glen Carbon has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Glen Carbon went from 3,561 in 2014 to 5,818 in 2024, +63%. The jobs ↓
Glen Carbon and Edwardsville trade workers both ways
Edwardsville is the top workplace for Glen Carbon residents (15%) and also where the most people who work in Glen Carbon come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Glen Carbon draws workers from far and wide
The 5,818 jobs in Glen Carbon are filled from a wide area. Glen Carbon’s own residents hold 7% and the ten next-biggest home towns 32%; the other 61% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Glen Carbon
68% of Glen Carbon residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 48% of the jobs based in Glen Carbon pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 94% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, 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 Glen Carbon
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Glen Carbon is better than 82% of U.S. towns, #220 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Glen Carbon’s grade up (ahead of 83% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (4.4%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Glen Carbon could be anywhere from B to A+.
Glen Carbon by day and by night
On a workday 5,812 residents head out to work, 381 work right here, and 5,437 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 (0.94 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Inside Glen Carbon’s 5,818 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Glen Carbon, 2014 → 2024: 3,561 → 5,818. 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 Glen Carbon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Glen Carbon goes to work
Where Glen Carbon clocks in
15% of workers
11% of workers
3% 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.
Time on the road from Glen Carbon: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Glen Carbon workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,546 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.
The distance from Glen Carbon to work
About 16% 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.
Most of Glen Carbon commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Glen Carbon is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns, #600 of 768 in Illinois. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% 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 7,008 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 5.0% of Glen Carbon households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Glen Carbon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,227 U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000, Glen Carbon comes 647th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | La Grange IL | 15,935 | $160K | 4.6% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| 31 | Riverside Township IL | 16,083 | $122K | 4.5% | 1.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 645 | Maywood NJ | 10,166 | $118K | 3.9% | 8.1% | 5% | A− |
| 646 | Dent OH | 11,973 | $87K | 4.3% | 3.9% | 3% | A− |
| 647 | Glen Carbon IL | 13,898 | $97K | 4.9% | 4.4% | 6% | A− |
| 648 | Brandon Township MI | 15,541 | $94K | 6.6% | 3.0% | 5% | A− |
| 649 | Ewa Beach HI | 14,376 | $124K | 4.9% | 4.4% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Glen Carbon, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Glen Carbon and its neighbors: 18% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Glen Carbon workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glen Carbon | – | A− | C+ | 26 min | $97,168 |
| Edwardsville | 15% | A | B+ | 23 min | $86,721 |
| Maryville | 3% | A− | C | 29 min | $100,670 |
| Pontoon Beach | under 3% | C | B− | 23 min | $62,861 |
| Edwardsville Township | under 3% | B+ | B+ | 25 min | $92,712 |
| Collinsville Township | under 3% | B | B− | 26 min | $77,785 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Edwardsville. Darker towns draw more of Glen Carbon’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 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 Glen Carbon: questions
What is the median household income in Glen Carbon?
$97,168 (±$11,182) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Glen Carbon?
4.9%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Glen Carbon?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Glen Carbon work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Edwardsville (15%, 2 mi), St. Louis (11%, 16 mi), Belleville (3%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Glen Carbon walkable?
Glen Carbon is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Glen Carbon without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Glen Carbon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Glen Carbon
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. 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.