Photo: Andy McMurray · CC BY 2.5Marengo has higher unemployment (9.8%) than 94% of U.S. towns
About one in ten stay in Marengo for work; outside it, Chicago is the main destination (8%, 55 miles). Jobs and income earn Marengo C; getting around on foot earns it C−. 8% 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
Work in Marengo, in a few figures
Marengo’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Marengo is Chicago, 55 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (321) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Marengo makes and builds things
50% of the jobs based in Marengo are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Marengo residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 26%. The jobs ↓
No single place dominates Marengo’s commute
The biggest draw, Chicago, gets only 8% of working residents, and 58% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Marengo residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
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 Marengo earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Marengo is better than 34% of U.S. towns, #605 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Marengo’s grade up (ahead of 76% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Marengo could be anywhere from D to B+.
How far Marengo goes to work
About 16% 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.
Marengo works in goods: 50% of its jobs
2,099 jobs are based in Marengo.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marengo, 2013 → 2023: 2,150 → 2,099. 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 Marengo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Out of Marengo to work: where people go
Where Marengo clocks in
8% of workers
5% of workers
3% 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 daily flow of workers through Marengo
On a workday 3,470 residents head out to work, 354 work right here, and 1,745 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,000 people are in Marengo on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
0.55 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.
About 30 minutes each way for Marengo’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marengo workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,848 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.
In Marengo, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Marengo is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns, #725 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 3,097 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). 3.9% of Marengo households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Marengo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 5,400 to 10,400, Marengo ranks 2,210th of 3,051 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Northfield IL | 5,632 | $162K | 3.2% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,208 | Center Line MI | 8,503 | $55K | 16.8% | 6.8% | 4% | C |
| 2,209 | Childress TX | 5,650 | $58K | 14.4% | 0.4% | 46% | C |
| 2,210 | Marengo IL | 7,737 | $74K | 15.7% | 9.8% | 9% | C |
| 2,211 | Newark NY | 8,919 | $60K | 22.2% | 3.0% | 25% | C |
| 2,212 | Ashland VA | 7,982 | $61K | 24.3% | 4.9% | 14% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,051 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Marengo, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Work in the towns next to Marengo
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Marengo workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marengo | – | C | C− | 30 min | $73,523 |
| Riley | under 3% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Riley: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Marengo’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 Marengo: questions
What is the median household income in Marengo?
$73,523 (±$27,241) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marengo?
15.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marengo?
30 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marengo work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (8%, 55 mi), Elgin (5%, 20 mi), Crystal Lake (3%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Marengo walkable?
Marengo is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marengo without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Marengo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marengo
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.