Photo: TheCatalyst31 · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Hinckley (11.2%) is higher than in 96% of U.S. towns
Only 6% work in Hinckley itself; outside it, Aurora draws the most (8%, 18 miles). For jobs and income Hinckley is better than 44% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (B+). Commuters spend 30 minutes getting to work on average; Illinois averages 28, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Hinckley’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Job access by car holds Hinckley’s grade up (ahead of 66% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hinckley could be anywhere from C to A.
How many people are in Hinckley by day
On a workday 823 residents head out to work, 51 work right here, and 277 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Hinckley on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
0.38 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.
Where Hinckley goes to work
Where Hinckley clocks in
8% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
The kinds of work in Hinckley
328 jobs are based in Hinckley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hinckley, 2013 → 2023: 325 → 328. 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 Hinckley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Hinckley spends getting to work: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hinckley workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,004 commuters (the 10% 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.
How far it is to work from Hinckley
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 of Hinckley commutes by car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,117 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). 5.3% of Hinckley households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Hinckley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Hinckley next to U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700: 2,533rd of 5,509 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Port Barrington IL | 1,584 | $150K | 2.7% | 2.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,531 | Washington Township PA | 1,634 | $66K | 6.0% | 4.3% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,532 | Falls Township PA | 1,677 | $74K | 11.6% | 4.6% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,533 | Hinckley IL | 1,996 | $87K | 10.0% | 11.2% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,534 | North Lewisburg OH | 1,657 | $59K | 8.4% | 9.0% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,535 | Meadowlakes TX | 1,831 | $79K | 8.2% | 4.6% | <1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Hinckley, 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 Hinckley: questions
What is the median household income in Hinckley?
$86,823 (±$13,213) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hinckley?
10.0%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hinckley?
30 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hinckley work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Aurora (8%, 18 mi), DeKalb (5%, 12 mi), Geneva (4%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hinckley walkable?
Hinckley is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hinckley without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hinckley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hinckley
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.