Photo: Chamber221 · CC BY-SA 3.0Morrison has lower unemployment (2.3%) than 80% of U.S. towns
7% of workers have no commute at all, next to 16% for Illinois as a whole. Jobs and income earn Morrison B; getting around on foot earns it B. About one in four work in Morrison itself; outside it, Clinton draws the most (9%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Morrison stands out on work
Morrison trades workers with the towns around it
Morrison has about as many jobs (1,688) as working residents (1,743), but they are mostly different people: 1,333 residents leave for work each day while 1,278 people come in. Only 24% of the jobs in Morrison are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Morrison 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 ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Morrison
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Morrison is better than 57% of U.S. towns, #453 of 768 in Illinois. Unemployment holds Morrison’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 36% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Morrison could be anywhere from C to B+.
Morrison on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,333 residents head out to work, 410 work right here, and 1,278 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.97 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.
About 18 minutes each way for Morrison’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Morrison workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,655 commuters (the 7% 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 the trip to work from Morrison ends
Where Morrison clocks in
9% of workers
9% 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.
Inside Morrison’s 1,688 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Morrison, 2013 → 2023: 1,712 → 1,688. 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 Morrison’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Morrison
About 21% 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.
Morrison is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Morrison is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns, #461 of 768 in Illinois. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 6.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,781 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). 4.7% of Morrison households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Morrison’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Morrison ranks: 1,813th of 4,084 U.S. towns of 2,800 to 5,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Deer Park IL | 3,647 | $174K | 1.3% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,811 | Greene Township IN | 2,947 | $75K | 6.1% | 5.6% | 3% | B |
| 1,812 | North Sarasota FL | 2,824 | $85K | 8.1% | 7.3% | 1% | B |
| 1,813 | Morrison IL | 3,945 | $69K | 8.1% | 2.3% | 24% | B |
| 1,814 | Franklin NJ | 5,083 | $93K | 8.0% | 7.2% | 8% | B |
| 1,815 | Manor Township PA | 4,068 | $75K | 3.8% | 5.0% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,084 | 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 Morrison, 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 Morrison: questions
What is the median household income in Morrison?
$69,089 (±$6,284) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Morrison?
8.1%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Morrison?
18 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Morrison work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Clinton (9%, 15 mi), Sterling (9%, 14 mi), Davenport (3%, 37 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Morrison walkable?
Morrison is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Morrison without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Morrison, from the people who make the trip.
More of Morrison
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.