Photo: Cosmo1976 · CC BY 3.0Harvard has higher unemployment (7.6%) than 86% of U.S. towns
For 5% of workers, the job is at home (Illinois 16%). Jobs and income earn Harvard C; getting around on foot earns it A. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 1.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 36.9 in Chicago.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Harvard in brief
Harvard’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Harvard is Chicago, 63 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (344) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
No single place dominates Harvard’s commute
The biggest draw, Chicago, gets only 8% of working residents, and 55% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Harvard residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
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.
What’s behind Harvard’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Harvard is better than 35% of U.S. towns, #600 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Harvard’s grade up (ahead of 65% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Harvard could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Miles to work from Harvard
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.
8% of working residents work in Chicago
Where Harvard clocks in
8% of workers
6% 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.
How many people are in Harvard by day
On a workday 3,602 residents head out to work, 581 work right here, and 2,399 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,300 people are in Harvard on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.71 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.
What work there is in Harvard: 2,980 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harvard, 2013 → 2023: 2,864 → 2,980. 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 Harvard’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 26 minutes each way for Harvard’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harvard workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,239 commuters (the 5% 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.
In Harvard, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Harvard is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns, #118 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Harvard 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 4,465 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 78% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 65% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 67% 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). 3.9% of Harvard households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Harvard’s commuters take a bus or train.
Harvard next to U.S. towns of 6,700 to 12,800: 2,026th of 2,764 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | Winnetka IL | 12,518 | $250K | 1.6% | 3.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,024 | Pleasant Township OH | 10,983 | $61K | 12.3% | 4.7% | 38% | C |
| 2,025 | Fort Lupton CO | 10,402 | $81K | 17.6% | 8.4% | 8% | C |
| 2,026 | Harvard IL | 9,504 | $68K | 11.8% | 7.6% | 14% | C |
| 2,027 | Kill Devil Hills NC | 7,731 | $90K | 9.1% | 7.1% | 22% | C |
| 2,028 | Batavia NY | 7,096 | $67K | 9.2% | 7.0% | 12% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,764 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Harvard, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Work in the towns next to Harvard
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Harvard workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvard | – | C | A | 26 min | $67,617 |
| Lawrence | under 2% | — | — | 38 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Lawrence: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Harvard’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 Harvard: questions
What is the median household income in Harvard?
$67,617 (±$8,820) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Harvard?
11.8%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Harvard?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Harvard work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (8%, 63 mi), Woodstock (6%, 13 mi), McHenry (3%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Harvard walkable?
Harvard is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.8 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Harvard without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 65% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harvard, from the people who make the trip.
More of Harvard
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.