Household incomes in Gray Township trail those of 86% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Gray Township D−; getting around on foot earns it A−. The poverty rate is 28.8%, against 11.8% across Illinois. Only 7% stay in Gray Township for work; outside it, Carmi is the main destination (18%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Gray Township, in a few figures
Jobs & income in Gray Township: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Gray Township is better than 3% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Gray Township’s grade.
Unemployment (10.5%) is left out: Gray 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, Gray Township could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The places Gray Township commutes to
Where Gray Township clocks in
18% of workers
9% of workers
8% 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.
Gray Township by day and by night
On a workday 391 residents head out to work, 30 work right here, and 287 people come in from elsewhere.
About 910 people are in Gray Township on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.75 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Goods jobs make up 33% of work in Gray Township
317 jobs are based in Gray Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gray Township, 2013 → 2023: 276 → 317. 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 Gray Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Gray Township spends getting to work: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gray Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 408 commuters (the 11% 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 Gray Township’s workers travel
About 22% 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.
In Gray Township, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gray Township is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 11.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 7.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 459 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). 6.0% of Gray Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Gray Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Gray Township next to U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| 20 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,949 | Yale OK | 1,054 | $43K | 27.7% | 5.6% | 10% | D− |
| 2,950 | Benavides TX | 1,099 | $45K | 21.9% | 0.0% | 9% | D− |
| 2,951 | Gray Township IL | 1,018 | $51K | 28.8% | 10.5% | 7% | D− |
| 2,952 | Towanda Township PA | 1,021 | $50K | 26.4% | 5.6% | 1% | D− |
| 2,953 | North Towanda Township PA | 1,041 | $29K | 28.6% | 6.3% | 10% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | 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 Gray Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Gray Township and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Grayville (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Gray Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gray Township | – | D− | A− | 27 min | $51,397 |
| Grayville | 8% | D− | B+ | 29 min | $46,319 |
| Phillips Township | under 2% | D− | C+ | 31 min | $53,550 |
| Burnt Prairie Township | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Burnt Prairie Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Gray 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 Gray Township: questions
What is the median household income in Gray Township?
$51,397 (±$17,643) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gray Township?
28.8%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gray Township?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gray Township work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Carmi (18%, 12 mi), Albion (9%, 10 mi), Grayville (8%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gray Township walkable?
Gray Township is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gray Township without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gray Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gray 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.