Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHousehold incomes in Monmouth trail those of 72% of U.S. towns
8% of workers work from home (Illinois 16%). 17.7% of residents are in poverty (Illinois 11.8%). The two grades for Monmouth are C for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Monmouth at work: what stands out
Commutes from Monmouth 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 ↓
Monmouth makes and builds things
35% of the jobs based in Monmouth are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Monmouth residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 28%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Monmouth
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Monmouth is better than 30% of U.S. towns, #635 of 768 in Illinois. Unemployment holds Monmouth’s grade up (3.6%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Monmouth could be anywhere from D to B−.
Monmouth’s commute 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 Monmouth workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,771 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.
Making and building: 35% of jobs based in Monmouth
4,406 jobs are based in Monmouth.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Monmouth, 2013 → 2023: 5,116 → 4,406. 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 Monmouth’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Monmouth, by distance
About 31% 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 many people are in Monmouth by day
On a workday 1,908 residents head out to work, 1,509 work right here, and 2,897 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,600 people are in Monmouth on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.29 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.
7% of working residents work in Galesburg
Where Monmouth clocks in
7% 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.
Monmouth is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Monmouth is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns, #167 of 768 in Illinois. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 8.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,077 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). 10.9% of Monmouth households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Monmouth’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,944 U.S. towns of 6,000 to 11,600, Monmouth comes 2,277th 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Itasca IL | 9,488 | $114K | 2.0% | 2.6% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,275 | Tobyhanna Township PA | 8,380 | $90K | 14.3% | 12.0% | 12% | C |
| 2,276 | Avon CO | 6,184 | $89K | 12.2% | 8.1% | 18% | C |
| 2,277 | Monmouth IL | 8,599 | $61K | 17.7% | 3.6% | 44% | C |
| 2,278 | Breaux Bridge LA | 7,652 | $48K | 30.4% | 3.5% | 15% | C |
| 2,279 | Booneville MS | 9,257 | $51K | 15.1% | 3.2% | 33% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,944 | 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 Monmouth, 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 Monmouth: questions
What is the median household income in Monmouth?
$61,138 (±$7,127) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Monmouth?
17.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Monmouth?
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 Monmouth work?
44% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Galesburg (7%, 14 mi), Peoria (5%, 55 mi), Chicago (2%, 166 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Monmouth walkable?
Monmouth is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Monmouth without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Monmouth, from the people who make the trip.
More of Monmouth
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.