Photo: formulanone from Huntsville, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Household incomes in Lewistown are lower than in 83% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Lewistown C−; getting around on foot earns it B+. 11.5% of residents live below the poverty line; Illinois has 11.8%. 4% of workers have no commute at all (Illinois 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Lewistown and work: the main findings
Lewistown workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 41 minutes each way, against 28 across Illinois. Over a year that’s about 314 hours of commuting, 100 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Lewistown workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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 759 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Lewistown’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Lewistown is better than 19% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Lewistown’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($54,000, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (12.8%) is left out: Lewistown’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, Lewistown could be anywhere from D to C+.
Lewistown’s commute takes about 41 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 13.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lewistown workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 614 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.
How many people are in Lewistown by day
On a workday 640 residents head out to work, 119 work right here, and 451 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Lewistown on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.75 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
14% of working residents work in Canton
Where Lewistown clocks in
14% 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.
The 570 jobs based in Lewistown
570 jobs are based in Lewistown.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lewistown, 2013 → 2023: 710 → 570. 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 Lewistown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Lewistown’s workers travel
About 26% 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.
The commute in Lewistown is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lewistown is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Lewistown 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 640 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). 10.8% of Lewistown households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Lewistown’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Lewistown is 3,831st of 5,234 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Port Barrington IL | 1,584 | $150K | 2.7% | 2.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,829 | Selma Township MI | 2,267 | $65K | 11.7% | 15.9% | 1% | C− |
| 3,830 | Oppenheim NY | 1,760 | $69K | 15.7% | 8.1% | 3% | C− |
| 3,831 | Lewistown IL | 1,962 | $54K | 11.5% | 12.8% | 16% | C− |
| 3,832 | Nixon TX | 2,406 | $38K | 18.1% | 2.6% | 22% | C− |
| 3,833 | Flatonia TX | 1,413 | $61K | 12.6% | 0.0% | 16% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,234 | 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 Lewistown, 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 Lewistown: questions
What is the median household income in Lewistown?
$54,000 (±$12,812) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lewistown?
11.5%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lewistown?
41 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lewistown work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Canton (14%, 13 mi), Peoria (8%, 37 mi), Havana (6%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lewistown walkable?
Lewistown is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lewistown without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lewistown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lewistown
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.