Photo: AlphaBeta135 · CC BY 4.0Hometown has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Employers in Hometown report 336 jobs, and 2,046 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Hometown are A− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. Only 2% stay in Hometown for work; outside it, Chicago is the main destination (33%, 8 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 Hometown
Hometown and Chicago trade workers both ways
Chicago is the top workplace for Hometown residents (33%) and also where the most people who work in Hometown come from (21% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Hometown is a place people come home to
There are 336 jobs based in Hometown, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Hometown has about 2,500 people in it, 41% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Hometown
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hometown is better than 79% of U.S. towns, #256 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Hometown’s grade up (ahead of 98% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($61,101, 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, Hometown could be anywhere from B to A.
Where people from Hometown work
Where Hometown clocks in
33% 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.
Hometown by day and by night
On a workday 1,995 residents head out to work, 51 work right here, and 285 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Hometown on a workday afternoon, 41% 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.
The kinds of work in Hometown
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hometown, 2013 → 2023: 297 → 336. 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 Hometown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 28 minutes each way, about the IL average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hometown workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,855 commuters (the 9% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Hometown
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.
Hometown is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,047 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, 59% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 11.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 95% 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). 2.5% of Hometown households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 6% of Hometown’s commuters take a bus or train.
Hometown is 866th of 4,195 U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,700 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | South Barrington IL | 5,071 | $222K | 1.0% | 2.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Deer Park IL | 3,647 | $174K | 1.3% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 864 | Margate City NJ | 5,194 | $122K | 6.3% | 4.1% | 14% | A− |
| 865 | West Pennsboro Township PA | 5,699 | $81K | 7.1% | 1.4% | 7% | A− |
| 866 | Hometown IL | 4,191 | $61K | 6.9% | 2.0% | 2% | A− |
| 867 | Oak Park Heights MN | 4,625 | $82K | 7.1% | 3.3% | 7% | A− |
| 868 | Jackson Township IN | 3,812 | $103K | 5.0% | 3.4% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,195 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Hometown, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
How Hometown compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Oak Lawn (5%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Hometown’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 Hometown: questions
What is the median household income in Hometown?
$61,101 (±$9,619) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hometown?
6.9%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hometown?
28 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hometown work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (33%, 8 mi), Oak Lawn (5%, 2 mi), Bedford Park (3%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hometown walkable?
Hometown is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.5 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hometown without a car?
6% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 59% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hometown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hometown
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.