About half of Harristown’s working residents commute to Decatur
For jobs and income Harristown is better than 51% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns (D). Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers; Illinois has 16%. Household incomes here are lower than in 55% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Harristown, in a few figures
Nearly half of Harristown works in Decatur
245 working residents, 45%, have their main job in Decatur, 6.7 miles away across the town line. That’s 11 times as many as work in Harristown itself. The commute map ↓
Harristown makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Harristown are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Harristown residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 26%. The jobs ↓
Few Harristown workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 543 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Harristown’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Harristown’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (5.5%) is left out: Harristown’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, Harristown could be anywhere from C to B+.
The towns that employ Harristown’s residents
Where Harristown clocks in
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.
Making and building: 36% of jobs based in Harristown
338 jobs are based in Harristown.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harristown, 2013 → 2023: 103 → 338. 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 Harristown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Harristown’s commute takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harristown workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 668 commuters (the 4% 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 a workday changes Harristown
On a workday 522 residents head out to work, 21 work right here, and 317 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Harristown on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.62 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.
Half of Harristown commutes less than 9 miles
About 25% 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.
Most trips from Harristown start in a car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 696 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). 2.0% of Harristown households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Harristown’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Harristown is 1,597th among 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,595 | Pine City Township MN | 1,399 | $86K | 5.4% | 2.3% | 1% | B− |
| 1,596 | Grass Valley NV | 1,134 | $80K | 2.5% | 4.7% | 0% | B− |
| 1,597 | Harristown IL | 1,247 | $72K | 9.5% | 5.5% | 4% | B− |
| 1,598 | Mishicot WI | 1,428 | $65K | 7.2% | 1.3% | 4% | B− |
| 1,599 | Mottville Township MI | 1,436 | $70K | 10.1% | 6.0% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Harristown, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Harristown and its neighbors: 45% work next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Harristown workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harristown | – | B− | D | 22 min | $72,426 |
| Decatur | 45% | C− | B+ | 18 min | $51,592 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Decatur. Darker towns draw more of Harristown’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 Harristown: questions
What is the median household income in Harristown?
$72,426 (±$12,012) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Harristown?
9.5%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Harristown?
22 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Harristown work?
4% work in town.
Is Harristown walkable?
Harristown is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.8 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Harristown without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harristown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Harristown
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.