Photo: Ben Jacobson (Kranar Drogin) · CC BY 2.5Household incomes in Mount Morris are lower than in 92% of U.S. towns
5% of workers have no commute at all, against 16% across Illinois. Below the poverty line: 13.8% of residents; Illinois has 11.8%. Jobs and income earn Mount Morris C; getting around on foot earns it B+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Mount Morris: the figures worth knowing
Fewer jobs are based in Mount Morris than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Mount Morris fell from 349 in 2013 to 218 in 2023, −38%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Mount Morris is a place people come home to
There are 218 jobs based in Mount Morris, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Mount Morris has about 2,000 people in it, 30% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Mount Morris’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Mount Morris is Rockford, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (116) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Mount Morris are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 38 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Mount Morris
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mount Morris is better than 29% of U.S. towns, #639 of 768 in Illinois. Unemployment holds Mount Morris’ grade up (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($45,726, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mount Morris could be anywhere from D to B+.
Inside Mount Morris’ 218 jobs
218 jobs are based in Mount Morris.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mount Morris, 2013 → 2023: 349 → 218. 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 Mount Morris’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Mount Morris: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,015 residents head out to work, 32 work right here, and 186 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Mount Morris on a workday afternoon, 30% fewer than live here.
0.21 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.
How far Mount Morris goes to work
About 28% 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.
The daily trip from Mount Morris: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mount Morris workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,025 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.
11% of working residents work in Rockford
Where Mount Morris clocks in
11% of workers
11% of workers
6% 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.
Few in Mount Morris walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mount Morris is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns, #349 of 768 in Illinois. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 6.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,080 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). 17.7% of Mount Morris households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Mount Morris’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,703 U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,800, Mount Morris comes 3,265th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Deer Park IL | 3,647 | $174K | 1.3% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,263 | Taylor AL | 2,359 | $67K | 16.0% | 6.0% | 2% | C |
| 3,264 | Gosnell AR | 2,663 | $61K | 21.6% | 2.3% | 6% | C |
| 3,265 | Mount Morris IL | 2,787 | $46K | 13.8% | 3.5% | 3% | C |
| 3,266 | Beloit KS | 3,288 | $52K | 17.9% | 0.2% | 52% | C |
| 3,267 | Carlin NV | 2,011 | $61K | 6.5% | 1.6% | 20% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,703 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Mount Morris, 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 Mount Morris: questions
What is the median household income in Mount Morris?
$45,726 (±$16,842) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mount Morris?
13.8%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mount Morris?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mount Morris work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rockford (11%, 24 mi), Oregon (11%, 5 mi), Dixon (6%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mount Morris walkable?
Mount Morris is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mount Morris without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mount Morris, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mount Morris
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.