Photo: 6th Happiness · CC BY-SA 3.0Hillside has 1.9 jobs for every working resident: 6,830 people commute in to work
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 4.6 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 36.9 in Chicago. 6,967 jobs are based in Hillside for 3,747 working residents. Jobs and income earn Hillside A−; getting around on foot earns it A+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Hillside apart
Hillside and Chicago trade workers both ways
Chicago is the top workplace for Hillside residents (28%) and also where the most people who work in Hillside come from (23% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Hillside is where the jobs are
Hillside has 6,967 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 11,000 people are in town, 40% more than the 8,100 who live here. Day and night ↓
Hillside draws workers from far and wide
The 6,967 jobs in Hillside are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 37%; the other 61% 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 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 Hillside’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hillside is better than 75% of U.S. towns, #294 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Hillside’s grade up (among the top U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($72,320, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hillside could be anywhere from B− to A+.
Commuting in to Hillside: where workers come from
Where Hillside clocks in
28% of workers
3% 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.
Who works in Hillside, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 3,610 residents head out to work and 137 work right here.
About 11,000 people are in Hillside on a workday afternoon, 40% more 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.
Hillside works in goods: 33% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hillside, 2013 → 2023: 5,504 → 6,967. 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 Hillside’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 29 minutes each way for Hillside’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hillside workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,782 commuters (the 19% 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.
Where in the region Hillside works
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Hillside
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hillside is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns, #52 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Hillside 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 4,674 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 52% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 83% 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). 16.9% of Hillside households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 6% of Hillside’s commuters take a bus or train.
Hillside places 964th of 3,007 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 5,700 to 11,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Itasca IL | 9,488 | $114K | 2.0% | 2.6% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 962 | Gulf Park Estates MS | 6,264 | $66K | 5.0% | 1.0% | 1% | A− |
| 963 | Loxley AL | 6,131 | $108K | 11.7% | 1.4% | 4% | A− |
| 964 | Hillside IL | 8,140 | $72K | 6.6% | 4.1% | 4% | A− |
| 965 | Harahan LA | 8,916 | $80K | 7.5% | 3.8% | 5% | A− |
| 966 | Dexter Township MI | 6,510 | $124K | 5.9% | 5.1% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,007 | 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 Hillside, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Next door to Hillside
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hillside workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillside | – | A− | A+ | 29 min | $72,320 |
| Bellwood | under 2% | B | A+ | 28 min | $79,513 |
| Berkeley | under 2% | B+ | B+ | 28 min | $85,823 |
| Westchester | under 2% | A− | A+ | 27 min | $98,954 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hillside’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 Hillside: questions
What is the median household income in Hillside?
$72,320 (±$12,668) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hillside?
6.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hillside?
29 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hillside work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (28%, 11 mi), Oak Brook (3%, 3 mi), Elmhurst (3%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hillside walkable?
Hillside is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.9 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hillside without a car?
6% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. 52% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hillside, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hillside
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.