Photo: AlphaBeta135 · CC BY 4.0Manhattan has higher household incomes than 91% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 4.2% of residents; Illinois has 11.8%. Manhattan grades A+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Only 5% work in Manhattan itself; outside it, Chicago draws the most (9%, 33 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Manhattan
Manhattan workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 38 minutes each way, against 28 across Illinois. Over a year that’s about 291 hours of commuting, 77 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Manhattan is a place people come home to
There are 986 jobs based in Manhattan, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Manhattan has about 6,900 people in it, 37% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Manhattan’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Manhattan is Chicago, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (462) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Manhattan
69% of Manhattan residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 48% of the jobs based in Manhattan pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 95% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
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 Manhattan’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Manhattan is better than 98% of U.S. towns, #23 of 768 in Illinois. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Manhattan’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Manhattan could be anywhere from A to A+.
The daily trip from Manhattan: about 38 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Manhattan workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,139 commuters (the 12% 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 Manhattan: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 4,825 residents head out to work, 243 work right here, and 743 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,900 people are in Manhattan on a workday afternoon, 37% fewer than live here.
0.19 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Manhattan’s commute, mile by mile
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.
What work there is in Manhattan: 986 jobs
986 jobs are based in Manhattan.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Manhattan, 2013 → 2023: 1,117 → 986. 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 Manhattan’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting out of Manhattan: the destinations
Where Manhattan clocks in
9% of workers
8% 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.
Most of Manhattan commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Manhattan is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns, #562 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Manhattan 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 5,828 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 27% 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 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 43% 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). 2.7% of Manhattan households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Manhattan’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000, Manhattan ranks 71st of 2,507 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | London Grove Township PA | 9,047 | $176K | 1.8% | 0.3% | 5% | A+ |
| 70 | Glencoe IL | 8,724 | $249K | 2.1% | 3.6% | 4% | A+ |
| 71 | Manhattan IL | 10,943 | $129K | 4.2% | 1.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 72 | Manhattan Township IL | 13,099 | $129K | 4.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| 73 | Georgetown MA | 8,577 | $152K | 3.8% | 1.7% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Manhattan, 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 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 Manhattan: questions
What is the median household income in Manhattan?
$128,522 (±$6,368) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Manhattan?
4.2%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Manhattan?
38 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Manhattan work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (9%, 33 mi), Joliet (8%, 11 mi), New Lenox (7%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Manhattan walkable?
Manhattan is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Manhattan without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Manhattan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Manhattan
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.