Photo: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.0Madison has some of the highest unemployment in the country: 16.0%
The two grades for Madison are C− for jobs and income and C for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 89% of U.S. towns. 2% of workers have no commute at all, next to 16% for Illinois as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Madison
Stores, warehouses and trucking
57% of the jobs in Madison are in trade, transport and utilities, against 23% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
A lot of Madison workers cross into Missouri
25% of Madison workers work outside Illinois, the Census survey finds. In the commute data, St. Louis (15%) is one of the top workplaces. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Madison 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 ↓
Madison is where the jobs are
Madison has 1,931 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Few Madison workers work from home
Only 2% 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.
What’s behind Madison’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Madison is better than 19% of U.S. towns, #705 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Madison’s grade up (ahead of 93% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Madison could be anywhere from C− to C.
The 1,931 jobs based in Madison
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Madison, 2013 → 2023: 1,476 → 1,931. 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 Madison’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Madison’s workers come from
Where Madison clocks in
15% of workers
10% of workers
7% 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.
Time on the road from Madison: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Madison workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,210 commuters (the 2% 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 a workday changes Madison
On a workday 1,194 residents head out to work, 67 work right here, and 1,864 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,700 people are in Madison on a workday afternoon, 22% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Madison
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.
Most trips from Madison start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Madison is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns, #647 of 768 in Illinois. 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 1,232 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). 12.2% of Madison households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Madison’s commuters take a bus or train.
Madison next to U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,100: 3,816th of 4,771 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 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Deer Park IL | 3,647 | $174K | 1.3% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,814 | Cottonwood CA | 3,107 | $44K | 46.5% | 16.0% | <1% | C− |
| 3,815 | Port Hadlock-Irondale WA | 3,884 | $84K | 14.8% | 6.8% | 10% | C− |
| 3,816 | Madison IL | 3,063 | $49K | 26.4% | 16.0% | 5% | C− |
| 3,817 | Pawhuska OK | 2,923 | $46K | 17.1% | 3.0% | 37% | C− |
| 3,818 | Nixon TX | 2,406 | $38K | 18.1% | 2.6% | 22% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,771 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Madison, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Work next door: 12% of Madison’s workers
The biggest share goes to Granite City (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Madison workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison | – | C− | C | 18 min | $49,326 |
| Granite City | 10% | C+ | B− | 22 min | $59,205 |
| Granite City Township | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Fairmont City | under 2% | B− | B− | 17 min | $48,147 |
| Venice | under 2% | C− | B+ | 22 min | $32,066 |
| Venice Township | under 2% | C− | B− | 20 min | $44,117 |
| Nameoki Township | under 2% | C+ | C+ | 22 min | $65,176 |
| Brooklyn | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Pontoon Beach | 2% | C | B− | 23 min | $62,861 |
| Hartford | under 2% | C | C+ | 24 min | $41,092 |
Same-state neighbors only. Granite City Township: not graded. Brooklyn: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Madison’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 Madison: questions
What is the median household income in Madison?
$49,326 (±$7,340) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Madison?
26.4%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Madison?
18 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Madison work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Louis (15%, 8 mi), Granite City (10%, 3 mi), Edwardsville (7%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Madison walkable?
Madison is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Madison without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Madison, from the people who make the trip.
More of Madison
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.