Quincy draws more than half of Melrose Township’s working residents
Only 4% work in Melrose Township itself; outside it, Quincy draws the most (53%, 4 miles). The two grades for Melrose Township are B for jobs and income and D for walkability. For 5% of workers, the job is at home; Illinois has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Melrose Township: the gist
Melrose Township makes and builds things
72% of the jobs based in Melrose Township are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Melrose Township residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 20%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Melrose Township 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 ↓
Most Melrose Township residents work close to home
68% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Most jobs in Melrose Township pay over $40,000 a year
74% of the jobs based in Melrose Township pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. 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 Melrose Township’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Melrose Township is better than 64% of U.S. towns, #385 of 768 in Illinois. Unemployment holds Melrose Township’s grade up (2.9%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 45% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Melrose Township could be anywhere from C to A.
Factories, building and farms: 72% of the jobs in Melrose Township
1,201 jobs are based in Melrose Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Melrose Township, 2013 → 2023: 1,226 → 1,201. 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 Melrose Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Melrose Township, about 16 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Melrose Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,992 commuters (the 5% 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.
Where in the region Melrose Township works
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Melrose Township by day and by night
On a workday 2,621 residents head out to work, 114 work right here, and 1,087 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,000 people are in Melrose Township on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.
0.44 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.
Where Melrose Township goes to work
Where Melrose Township clocks in
53% 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.
For most of Melrose Township, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Melrose Township is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns, #759 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Melrose Township 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 3,158 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). 1.0% of Melrose Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Melrose Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Melrose Township ranks: 1,379th of 3,432 U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,400
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | South Barrington IL | 5,071 | $222K | 1.0% | 2.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Northfield IL | 5,632 | $162K | 3.2% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Grandwood Park IL | 5,262 | $127K | 2.8% | 2.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,377 | Prescott WI | 4,581 | $74K | 11.5% | 3.1% | 20% | B |
| 1,378 | Paris Township OH | 5,712 | $69K | 9.0% | 2.0% | 14% | B |
| 1,379 | Melrose Township IL | 5,506 | $84K | 8.3% | 2.9% | 4% | B |
| 1,380 | Monmouth ME | 4,252 | $75K | 9.3% | 0.1% | 10% | B |
| 1,381 | Manchester Township MI | 4,550 | $85K | 8.7% | 2.8% | 8% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,432 | 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 Melrose Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
The towns next door employ 62% of Melrose Township
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Melrose Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melrose Township | – | B | D | 16 min | $84,464 |
| Quincy | 53% | C | A− | 14 min | $56,480 |
| Quincy Township | under 1% | — | — | 14 min | — |
| Fall Creek Township | under 1% | — | — | — | — |
| Burton Township | under 1% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Ellington Township | 9% | A | D− | 15 min | $105,901 |
| Riverside Township | under 1% | B | C | 13 min | $80,859 |
Same-state neighbors only. Quincy Township: not graded. Fall Creek Township and Burton Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Quincy. Darker towns draw more of Melrose Township’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 Melrose Township: questions
What is the median household income in Melrose Township?
$84,464 (±$17,402) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Melrose Township?
8.3%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Melrose Township?
16 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Melrose Township work?
4% work in town.
Is Melrose Township walkable?
Melrose Township is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Melrose Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Melrose Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Melrose Township
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.