Lamoine Hotel · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainCollege students make up 28% of Macomb’s residents
8% of workers have no commute at all, where Illinois as a whole has 16%. Macomb grades C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About half stay in Macomb for work; outside it, Peoria is the main destination (4%, 59 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Macomb apart on work
Commutes from Macomb are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. 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.
Why Macomb gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On family income, poverty and job access, Macomb is better than 15% of U.S. towns, #721 of 768 in Illinois. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Macomb’s grade.
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (16% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 18.6%, against 25.1% for all residents. Unemployment (10.4%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($76,813), since student households pull the household median down ($44,411).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Macomb could be anywhere from D to C.
Getting to work from Macomb takes about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Macomb workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,455 commuters (the 8% 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 Macomb commutes less than 15 miles
About 35% 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.
How a workday changes Macomb
On a workday 2,848 residents head out to work, 2,333 work right here, and 4,873 people come in from elsewhere.
About 17,000 people are in Macomb on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.39 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.
Where Macomb goes to work
Where Macomb clocks in
3% of workers
2% 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 Macomb
7,206 jobs are based in Macomb.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Macomb, 2013 → 2023: 8,034 → 7,206. 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 Macomb’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting around Macomb: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Macomb is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #355 of 768 in Illinois. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 6.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 7,021 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). 13.2% of Macomb households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Macomb’s commuters take a bus or train.
Macomb next to U.S. towns of 10,000 to 20,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Deerfield IL | 19,642 | $182K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,169 | East St. Louis IL | 17,682 | $36K | 32.8% | 17.3% | 9% | C− |
| 2,170 | Camp Verde AZ | 12,581 | $69K | 15.5% | 5.8% | 30% | C− |
| 2,171 | Macomb IL | 14,530 | $44K | 25.1% | 10.4% | 45% | C− |
| 2,172 | Winfield KS | 11,745 | $57K | 15.4% | 7.3% | 39% | C− |
| 2,173 | Macomb City Township IL | 14,530 | $44K | 25.1% | 10.4% | 45% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,362 | 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 Macomb, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
The towns around Macomb
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Macomb workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macomb | – | C− | B+ | 16 min | $44,411 |
| Macomb City Township | under 2% | C− | B+ | 16 min | $44,411 |
| Emmet Township | under 2% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| Scotland Township | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Macomb Township | under 2% | — | — | 13 min | — |
| Chalmers Township | under 2% | — | — | 11 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Emmet Township: not graded. Scotland Township, Macomb Township and Chalmers Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Macomb’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.
- Students. 28% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Macomb: questions
What is the median household income in Macomb?
$44,411 (±$4,595) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Macomb?
25.1% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 18.6%. Illinois: 11.8%.
How long is the commute from Macomb?
16 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Macomb work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Peoria (4%, 59 mi), Quincy (3%, 52 mi), Carthage (2%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Macomb walkable?
Macomb is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Macomb without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Macomb, from the people who make the trip.
More of Macomb
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.