Heritage Lake’s household incomes are higher than in 92% of U.S. towns
For 7% of workers, the job is at home, against 16% across Illinois. 7.8% of residents are in poverty; Illinois has 11.8%. Heritage Lake grades A− for jobs and income and D− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Heritage Lake at work: what stands out
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Heritage Lake
On income, poverty and job access, Heritage Lake is better than 79% of U.S. towns. Household income is its strongest input ($133,048, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 54% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Heritage Lake’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, Heritage Lake could be anywhere from B− to A.
Who works in Heritage Lake, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 532 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 15 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Heritage Lake on a workday afternoon, 34% fewer than live here.
0.03 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 2024, primary jobs.
16% of working residents work in Peoria
Where Heritage Lake clocks in
Lines 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.
31% of the jobs in Heritage Lake make or build things
16 jobs are based in Heritage Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Heritage Lake, 2014 → 2024: 3 → 16. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Heritage Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Heritage Lake: about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Heritage Lake workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 681 commuters (the 7% 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.
The distance from Heritage Lake to work
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Heritage Lake, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Heritage Lake is more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Heritage Lake 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 734 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). 3.0% of Heritage Lake households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Heritage Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100, Heritage Lake ranks 680th of 5,794 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Bannockburn IL | 1,308 | $214K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 678 | Jennings Township OH | 2,032 | $88K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 6% | A− |
| 679 | Perry Park CO | 1,570 | $158K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 4% | A− |
| 680 | Heritage Lake IL | 1,522 | $133K | 7.8% | 0.0% | <1% | A− |
| 681 | Louisville NE | 1,419 | $94K | 7.8% | 3.6% | 7% | A− |
| 682 | Merrimac WI | 1,296 | $109K | 4.2% | 3.4% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Heritage Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
10% of Heritage Lake works in a bordering town
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Heritage Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heritage Lake | – | A− | D− | 32 min | $133,048 |
| Mackinaw | 10% | B− | B | 24 min | $67,292 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Mackinaw. Darker towns draw more of Heritage Lake’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 2024, 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 Heritage Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Heritage Lake?
$133,048 (±$25,559) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Heritage Lake?
7.8%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Heritage Lake?
32 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Heritage Lake work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Peoria (16%, 21 mi), Mackinaw (10%, 2 mi), Morton (8%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Heritage Lake walkable?
Heritage Lake is more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Heritage Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Heritage Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Heritage Lake
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.