Most of Gridley commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
There are 331 jobs in Gridley for 661 working residents. The two grades for Gridley are B− for jobs and income and C for walkability. Only 2% work in Gridley itself; outside it, Bloomington draws the most (33%, 19 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Gridley stands out on work
One in three of Gridley works in Bloomington
221 working residents, 33%, have their main job in Bloomington, 19 miles away. That’s 17 times as many as work in Gridley itself. The commute map ↓
Gridley makes and builds things
49% of the jobs based in Gridley are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Gridley residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 13%. 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; with 661 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Gridley earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Gridley is better than 49% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Gridley’s grade up (5.7%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 34% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (2.6%) is left out: Gridley’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, Gridley could be anywhere from C− to B+.
The towns that employ Gridley’s residents
Where Gridley clocks in
33% of workers
19% of workers
4% 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.
Goods jobs make up 49% of work in Gridley
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gridley, 2013 → 2023: 405 → 331. 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 Gridley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Gridley, and who commutes in
On a workday 645 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 315 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Gridley on a workday afternoon, 23% 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.
Time on the road from Gridley: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gridley workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 552 commuters (the 13% 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.
Gridley’s commute, mile by mile
About 23% 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 Gridley, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gridley is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Gridley near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 634 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). 1.3% of Gridley households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Gridley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Gridley is 2,085th among 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,083 | Sutton-Alpine AK | 1,598 | $75K | 3.2% | 9.0% | — | B− |
| 2,084 | Lyles TN | 1,385 | $68K | 8.7% | 0.0% | 0% | B− |
| 2,085 | Gridley IL | 1,428 | $67K | 5.7% | 2.6% | 2% | B− |
| 2,086 | Bloomfield PA | 1,248 | $74K | 9.5% | 2.9% | 4% | B− |
| 2,087 | Lincoln Township KS | 1,582 | $66K | 4.5% | 1.3% | 15% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Gridley, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
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 Gridley: questions
What is the median household income in Gridley?
$67,250 (±$16,485) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gridley?
5.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gridley?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gridley work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bloomington (33%, 19 mi), Normal (19%, 16 mi), El Paso (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gridley walkable?
Gridley is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gridley without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gridley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gridley
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.