Photo: Katherine Johnson from Springfield, IL · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in Lincoln are lower than in 78% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Lincoln C+; getting around on foot earns it A−. Below the poverty line: 17.0% of residents, where Illinois as a whole has 11.8%. 7% of workers work from home; Illinois has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Lincoln, in a few figures
Commutes from Lincoln are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Lincoln’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lincoln is Springfield, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (662) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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.
How Lincoln earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lincoln is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #575 of 768 in Illinois. Unemployment holds Lincoln’s grade up (2.9%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lincoln could be anywhere from C to B−.
A commute of about 18 minutes in Lincoln
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lincoln workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,928 commuters (the 7% 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.
Half of Lincoln commutes less than 27 miles
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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Lincoln
On a workday 3,230 residents head out to work, 1,453 work right here, and 2,629 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.87 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 Springfield
Where Lincoln clocks in
14% 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 work there is in Lincoln: 4,082 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lincoln, 2013 → 2023: 5,152 → 4,082. 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 Lincoln’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Lincoln is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lincoln is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #273 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Lincoln 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 6,366 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 Lincoln households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Lincoln’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Lincoln ranks: 1,788th of 2,526 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | La Grange IL | 15,935 | $160K | 4.6% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Riverside Township IL | 16,083 | $122K | 4.5% | 1.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,786 | Lansing NY | 11,786 | $86K | 13.4% | 5.6% | 15% | C+ |
| 1,787 | Lahaina HI | 10,162 | $89K | 11.5% | 5.8% | 20% | C+ |
| 1,788 | Lincoln IL | 12,981 | $57K | 17.0% | 2.9% | 31% | C+ |
| 1,789 | Plymouth IN | 11,081 | $59K | 13.5% | 3.4% | 37% | C+ |
| 1,790 | Long Beach MS | 17,309 | $70K | 11.5% | 6.1% | 11% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Lincoln, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Lincoln and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to West Lincoln Township (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lincoln workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln | – | C+ | A− | 18 min | $57,340 |
| West Lincoln Township | 8% | B− | B+ | 17 min | $59,914 |
| Broadwell Township | 1% | C+ | C+ | 21 min | $69,531 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lincoln’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 Lincoln: questions
What is the median household income in Lincoln?
$57,340 (±$2,729) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lincoln?
17.0%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lincoln?
18 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lincoln work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (14%, 29 mi), West Lincoln Township (8%, 4 mi), Decatur (3%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lincoln walkable?
Lincoln is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lincoln 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 Lincoln, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lincoln
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.