Photo: Nyttend · Public domainLouisville has lower household incomes than 94% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Louisville D−; getting around on foot earns it C. 30.6% of residents live below the poverty line (Illinois 11.8%). 1% of workers work from home; Illinois has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Louisville, in a few figures
Louisville and Flora trade workers both ways
Flora is the top workplace for Louisville residents (21%) and also where the most people who work in Louisville come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Louisville workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Louisville are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 476 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Louisville gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Louisville is better than 3% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Louisville’s grade up (ahead of 20% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (8.2%) is left out: Louisville’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, Louisville could be anywhere from D− to D.
21% of working residents work in Flora
Where Louisville clocks in
21% of workers
9% 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.
About 21 minutes each way for Louisville’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Louisville workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 431 commuters (the 1% 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 Louisville: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 411 residents head out to work, 65 work right here, and 502 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 (1.19 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
What work there is in Louisville: 567 jobs
567 jobs are based in Louisville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Louisville, 2014 → 2024: 482 → 567. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Louisville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Louisville goes to work
About 23% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Louisville, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Louisville is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 10.8% across Illinois.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 435 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). 14.3% of Louisville households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Louisville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Louisville sits among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,532 | Kilmarnock VA | 1,457 | $40K | 23.1% | 2.8% | 16% | D− |
| 3,533 | Minorca LA | 1,430 | $36K | 31.7% | 6.6% | 8% | D− |
| 3,534 | Louisville IL | 1,108 | $44K | 30.6% | 8.2% | 14% | D− |
| 3,535 | Lexington MS | 1,395 | $48K | 22.7% | 7.5% | 10% | D− |
| 3,536 | Dixon MO | 1,222 | $50K | 22.2% | 3.7% | 15% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Louisville, 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 2024, 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 Louisville: questions
What is the median household income in Louisville?
$43,750 (±$8,711) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Louisville?
30.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Louisville?
21 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Louisville work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Flora (21%, 7 mi), Effingham (9%, 24 mi), Salem (6%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Louisville walkable?
Louisville is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Louisville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Louisville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Louisville
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.