Household incomes in Lanark are lower than in 75% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Lanark is better than 20% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (A−). 12.7% of residents are in poverty (Illinois 11.8%). 4% of workers have no commute at all, next to 16% for Illinois as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Lanark, in a few figures
Jobs & income in Lanark: the grade in detail
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Lanark’s grade.
Unemployment (2.3%) is left out: Lanark’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Lanark could be anywhere from D to C+.
About 25 minutes to work from Lanark
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lanark workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 769 commuters (the 4% 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 Lanark: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 476 residents head out to work, 44 work right here, and 310 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Lanark on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.68 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.
17% of working residents work in Freeport
Where Lanark clocks in
17% 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.
What the 354 jobs in Lanark are
354 jobs are based in Lanark.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lanark, 2013 → 2023: 332 → 354. 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 Lanark’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Lanark goes to work
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.
Lanark is easy on foot, hard by bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 798 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). 4.3% of Lanark households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Lanark’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Lanark is 4,399th among 6,308 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,397 | New Brockton AL | 1,512 | $72K | 20.4% | 0.3% | 1% | C− |
| 4,398 | Nicholson GA | 1,941 | $52K | 11.5% | 11.0% | <1% | C− |
| 4,399 | Lanark IL | 1,452 | $59K | 12.7% | 2.3% | 8% | C− |
| 4,400 | Arkoma OK | 1,863 | $44K | 22.1% | 7.8% | 5% | C− |
| 4,401 | Freeport PA | 1,672 | $49K | 27.3% | 5.6% | 6% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | 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 Lanark, 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 Lanark: questions
What is the median household income in Lanark?
$59,375 (±$18,480) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lanark?
12.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lanark?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lanark work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Freeport (17%, 16 mi), Shannon (8%, 6 mi), Mount Carroll (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lanark walkable?
Lanark is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lanark without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lanark, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lanark
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.