Photo: Teemu008 from Palatine, Illinois · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in Highland Park earn more than those in 97% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 6.3 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 36.9 in Chicago. 4.2% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 11.8% for Illinois as a whole. Jobs and income earn Highland Park A+; getting around on foot earns it A+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Highland Park in brief
Highland Park trades workers with the towns around it
Highland Park has about as many jobs (13,447) as working residents (11,742), but they are mostly different people: 10,467 residents leave for work each day while 12,172 people come in. Only 9% of the jobs in Highland Park are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Highland Park’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Highland Park is Chicago, 25 miles away as the crow flies. 26% of working residents (3,030) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A lot of Highland Park works from home
27% of Highland Park workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Time on the road ↓
Highland Park draws workers from far and wide
The 13,447 jobs in Highland Park are filled from a wide area. Highland Park’s own residents hold 9% and the ten next-biggest home towns 35%; the other 56% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How Highland Park earns its Jobs & income grade
Household income is its strongest input ($168,094, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Highland Park could be anywhere from A to A+.
How many people are in Highland Park by day
On a workday 10,467 residents head out to work, 1,275 work right here, and 12,172 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.15 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Miles to work from Highland Park
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.
From Highland Park, about 28 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Highland Park workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,801 commuters (the 27% 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.
26% of working residents work in Chicago
Where Highland Park clocks in
26% of workers
5% 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.
Inside Highland Park’s 13,447 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Highland Park, 2014 → 2024: 12,557 → 13,447. 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 Highland Park’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Highland Park is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Highland Park is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns, #62 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Highland Park 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 14,701 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 79% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 26% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 6.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 88% 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). 2.7% of Highland Park households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 8% of Highland Park’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Highland Park is 56th among 1,334 U.S. towns of 22,000 to 42,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | West Deerfield Township IL | 32,111 | $205K | 2.7% | 2.7% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | New Lenox IL | 28,893 | $141K | 1.5% | 2.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Bartlett IL | 40,855 | $133K | 4.2% | 2.6% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 54 | Andover MN | 33,874 | $138K | 3.3% | 2.8% | 6% | A+ |
| 55 | Springfield Township PA | 25,039 | $138K | 3.4% | 3.1% | 7% | A+ |
| 56 | Highland Park IL | 30,767 | $168K | 4.2% | 3.2% | 11% | A+ |
| 57 | Chanhassen MN | 25,748 | $144K | 2.9% | 3.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 58 | Elk River MN | 27,896 | $109K | 3.4% | 1.6% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,334 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 16% | 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 Highland Park, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Highland Park and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Deerfield (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Highland Park workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highland Park | – | A+ | A+ | 28 min | $168,094 |
| Moraine Township | under 2% | A | A+ | 28 min | $153,798 |
| Highwood | under 2% | B | A | 31 min | $107,875 |
| Lake Forest | 2% | A+ | A | 31 min | $235,081 |
| Deerfield | 4% | A+ | A | 28 min | $181,660 |
| Bannockburn | under 2% | A+ | A+ | 22 min | $214,000 |
| Glencoe | under 2% | A+ | A+ | 36 min | $248,933 |
| New Trier Township | under 2% | A+ | A+ | 34 min | $215,916 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Highland Park’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 Highland Park: questions
What is the median household income in Highland Park?
$168,094 (±$17,851) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Highland Park?
4.2%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Highland Park?
28 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Highland Park work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (26%, 25 mi), Northbrook (5%, 4 mi), Deerfield (4%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Highland Park walkable?
Highland Park is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 12.1 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Highland Park without a car?
8% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 26% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Highland Park, from the people who make the trip.
More of Highland Park
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.