Households in Herscher earn more than those in 70% of U.S. towns
Herscher grades B− for jobs and income and C for walkability. The poverty rate is 12.1%, against 11.8% across Illinois. Only 5% stay in Herscher for work; outside it, Kankakee is the main destination (21%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Herscher
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Herscher
On income, poverty and job access, Herscher is better than 47% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Herscher’s grade up ($91,667, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 36% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (5.5%) is left out: Herscher’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Herscher could be anywhere from C to A−.
What the 393 jobs in Herscher are
393 jobs are based in Herscher.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Herscher, 2013 → 2023: 526 → 393. 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 Herscher’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Herscher: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 611 residents head out to work, 29 work right here, and 364 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Herscher on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.61 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.
Commuting out of Herscher: the destinations
Where Herscher clocks in
21% of workers
7% 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.
Commuting from Herscher: about 25 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Herscher workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 481 commuters (the 12% 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.
Half of Herscher commutes less than 19 miles
About 28% 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.
The commute in Herscher is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Herscher is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% 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 548 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). 4.5% of Herscher households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Herscher’s commuters take a bus or train.
Herscher places 2,373rd of 6,308 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | 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% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,371 | Upper Lake CA | 1,374 | $110K | 10.5% | 2.2% | 14% | B− |
| 2,372 | Passapatanzy VA | 1,259 | $126K | 25.7% | 6.0% | <1% | B− |
| 2,373 | Herscher IL | 1,486 | $92K | 12.1% | 5.5% | 5% | B− |
| 2,374 | West Alexandria OH | 1,311 | $60K | 8.5% | 1.1% | 6% | B− |
| 2,375 | Continental OH | 1,103 | $75K | 7.2% | 4.7% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | 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 Herscher, 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 Herscher: questions
What is the median household income in Herscher?
$91,667 (±$18,135) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Herscher?
12.1%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Herscher?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Herscher work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kankakee (21%, 13 mi), Chicago (7%, 58 mi), Bourbonnais (6%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Herscher walkable?
Herscher is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Herscher without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Herscher, from the people who make the trip.
More of Herscher
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.