Photo: Andy McMurray · CC BY 2.5Hillcrest has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.5 for each
Working residents average 21 minutes each way; Illinois averages 28, the U.S. 26. There are 236 jobs in Hillcrest; 436 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Hillcrest B; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Hillcrest in brief
Hillcrest and Rochelle trade workers both ways
Rochelle is the top workplace for Hillcrest residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Hillcrest come from (21% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Hillcrest are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. 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 436 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Hillcrest
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hillcrest is better than 58% of U.S. towns. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Hillcrest’s grade. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hillcrest could be anywhere from C to A.
31% of working residents work in Rochelle
Where Hillcrest clocks in
8% of workers
6% 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.
About 21 minutes each way for Hillcrest’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hillcrest workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 820 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.
A workday in Hillcrest: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 425 residents head out to work, 11 work right here, and 225 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Hillcrest on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Goods, not services: 37% of the jobs in Hillcrest
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hillcrest, 2013 → 2023: 195 → 236. 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 Hillcrest’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Hillcrest
About 24% 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 Hillcrest start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hillcrest is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 932 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). 0.0% of Hillcrest households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Hillcrest’s commuters take a bus or train.
Hillcrest is 1,122nd of 4,312 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600 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 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,120 | Riner VA | 1,038 | $106K | 9.8% | 0.0% | 2% | B |
| 1,121 | New Berlin IL | 1,361 | $70K | 6.4% | 5.5% | 4% | B |
| 1,122 | Hillcrest IL | 1,210 | $81K | 9.6% | 3.9% | 3% | B |
| 1,123 | Mazon Township IL | 1,482 | $82K | 8.1% | 2.1% | 3% | B |
| 1,124 | Tornado WV | 1,114 | $83K | 8.8% | 0.4% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | 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 Hillcrest, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
31% of Hillcrest works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hillcrest workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillcrest | – | B | C | 21 min | $80,568 |
| Rochelle | 31% | C+ | B− | 22 min | $66,307 |
| Flagg Township | under 2% | B− | C+ | 22 min | $74,423 |
| White Rock Township | under 2% | — | — | 32 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. White Rock Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Rochelle. Darker towns draw more of Hillcrest’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 Hillcrest: questions
What is the median household income in Hillcrest?
$80,568 (±$20,836) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hillcrest?
9.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hillcrest?
21 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hillcrest work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rochelle (31%, 3 mi), Rockford (8%, 20 mi), DeKalb (6%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hillcrest walkable?
Hillcrest is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hillcrest without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hillcrest, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hillcrest
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.