Photo: Kman2005 · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Gurnee have higher incomes than those in 88% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Gurnee is better than 86% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (B+). The poverty rate is 5.2%, next to 11.8% for Illinois as a whole. About one in ten stay in Gurnee for work; outside it, Chicago is the main destination (10%, 39 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Gurnee stands out on work
Gurnee’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Gurnee is Chicago, 39 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (1,412) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Gurnee draws workers from far and wide
The 18,576 jobs in Gurnee are filled from a wide area. Gurnee’s own residents hold 8% and the ten next-biggest home towns 33%; the other 59% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Gurnee
67% of Gurnee residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 49% of the jobs based in Gurnee pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 90% leave town for their job. 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.
The figures behind Gurnee’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Gurnee’s grade up (ahead of 91% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. 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, Gurnee could be anywhere from A− to A.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Gurnee
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.
The places Gurnee commutes to
Where Gurnee clocks in
10% of workers
8% 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.
The kinds of work in Gurnee
18,576 jobs are based in Gurnee.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gurnee, 2013 → 2023: 18,227 → 18,576. 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 Gurnee’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Gurnee
On a workday 12,827 residents head out to work, 1,457 work right here, and 17,119 people come in from elsewhere.
About 35,000 people are in Gurnee on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.30 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.
Each way, about 27 minutes from Gurnee
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gurnee workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,446 commuters (the 19% 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.
Getting around Gurnee: mostly by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.1% 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 16,671 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 75% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 3% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 76% 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 Gurnee households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Gurnee’s commuters take a bus or train.
340th of 1,415: where Gurnee ranks among U.S. towns of 21,000 to 41,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | West Deerfield Township IL | 32,111 | $205K | 2.7% | 2.7% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Geneva IL | 21,138 | $144K | 3.8% | 1.8% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | New Lenox IL | 28,893 | $141K | 1.5% | 2.9% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 338 | North Ogden UT | 21,689 | $114K | 5.3% | 2.5% | 5% | A |
| 339 | Sterling VA | 32,411 | $123K | 8.0% | 3.7% | 4% | A |
| 340 | Gurnee IL | 30,458 | $120K | 5.2% | 4.8% | 10% | A |
| 341 | Secaucus NJ | 22,640 | $140K | 5.8% | 5.6% | 12% | A |
| 342 | Howard WI | 22,233 | $85K | 5.1% | 2.5% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,415 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Gurnee, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
How Gurnee compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Waukegan (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Gurnee workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gurnee | – | A | B+ | 27 min | $119,628 |
| Waukegan | 8% | C+ | A− | 26 min | $71,919 |
| Gages Lake | under 2% | B+ | A | 26 min | $103,318 |
| Grandwood Park | under 2% | A+ | B− | 26 min | $126,736 |
| Park City | under 2% | B− | B | 25 min | $60,171 |
| Warren Township | under 2% | A− | B+ | 27 min | $104,155 |
| Waukegan Township | under 2% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Third Lake | under 2% | A+ | A− | 30 min | $150,139 |
| Wadsworth | under 2% | B | C | 27 min | $142,738 |
Same-state neighbors only. Waukegan Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Gurnee’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 Gurnee: questions
What is the median household income in Gurnee?
$119,628 (±$7,873) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gurnee?
5.2%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gurnee?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gurnee work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (10%, 39 mi), Waukegan (8%, 3 mi), Libertyville Township (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gurnee walkable?
Gurnee is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 10.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gurnee without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 3% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gurnee, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gurnee
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.