Photo: TCP04 · CC BY 4.0Lexington has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.5 for each
Employers in Lexington report 442 jobs for 914 working residents. Lexington grades B+ for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Household incomes here are higher than in 76% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The figures behind Lexington’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lexington is better than 72% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Lexington’s grade up (4.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 46% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lexington could be anywhere from B− to A.
Lexington on a workday afternoon
On a workday 858 residents head out to work, 56 work right here, and 386 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Lexington on a workday afternoon, 23% 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.
25% of working residents work in Bloomington
Where Lexington clocks in
25% of workers
13% 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.
The kinds of work in Lexington
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lexington, 2013 → 2023: 246 → 442. 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 Lexington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Lexington: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lexington workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 871 commuters (the 14% 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 Lexington works
About 17% 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.
For most of Lexington, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lexington is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 5.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,016 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 3.9% of Lexington households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lexington’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,800, Lexington ranks 1,012th of 5,148 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Port Barrington IL | 1,584 | $150K | 2.7% | 2.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,010 | Spafford NY | 1,596 | $111K | 5.8% | 1.2% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,011 | Licking Township OH | 2,347 | $124K | 1.3% | 5.8% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,012 | Lexington IL | 2,079 | $99K | 4.2% | 4.1% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,013 | Marion Township IN | 1,988 | $108K | 9.9% | 1.4% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,014 | Monroe Township OH | 1,649 | $81K | 3.7% | 4.3% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,148 | 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 Lexington, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Lexington and its neighbors
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lexington workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lexington | – | B+ | C+ | 30 min | $99,167 |
| Lexington Township | under 2% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Money Creek Township | under 2% | A+ | C+ | 21 min | $191,042 |
Same-state neighbors only. Lexington Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lexington’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 Lexington: questions
What is the median household income in Lexington?
$99,167 (±$8,415) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lexington?
4.2%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lexington?
30 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lexington work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bloomington (25%, 15 mi), Normal (13%, 14 mi), Chenoa (5%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lexington walkable?
Lexington is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lexington without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lexington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lexington
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.