Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHouseholds in Mount Pulaski earn less than those in 64% of U.S. towns
About one in seven stay in Mount Pulaski for work; outside it, Springfield is the main destination (18%, 24 miles). 5.9% of residents are in poverty, where Illinois as a whole has 11.8%. The two grades for Mount Pulaski are B− for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Mount Pulaski in brief
Mount Pulaski’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Mount Pulaski is Springfield, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 18% of working residents (108) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Mount Pulaski
59% of Mount Pulaski residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 30% of the jobs based in Mount Pulaski pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 86% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Mount Pulaski pay little
30% of the jobs based in Mount Pulaski pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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; with 615 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Mount Pulaski’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Mount Pulaski is better than 53% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Mount Pulaski’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($66,176, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (2.9%) is left out: Mount Pulaski’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Mount Pulaski could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Where in the region Mount Pulaski works
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.
What work there is in Mount Pulaski: 487 jobs
487 jobs are based in Mount Pulaski.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mount Pulaski, 2013 → 2023: 429 → 487. 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 Pulaski’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Mount Pulaski
On a workday 530 residents head out to work, 85 work right here, and 402 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 (0.79 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.
Commuting out of Mount Pulaski: the destinations
Where Mount Pulaski clocks in
18% of workers
9% 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.
A commute of about 24 minutes in Mount Pulaski
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mount Pulaski workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 571 commuters (the 9% 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.
For most of Mount Pulaski, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mount Pulaski is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Mount Pulaski 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 629 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). 2.6% of Mount Pulaski households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mount Pulaski’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Mount Pulaski ranks: 2,016th of 6,308 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,014 | Berlin Township OH | 1,954 | $75K | 11.0% | 0.0% | 3% | B− |
| 2,015 | Lind WI | 1,550 | $79K | 5.6% | 2.7% | 1% | B− |
| 2,016 | Mount Pulaski IL | 1,499 | $66K | 5.9% | 2.9% | 14% | B− |
| 2,017 | Okarche OK | 1,196 | $94K | 11.8% | 0.8% | 5% | B− |
| 2,018 | South Homer Township IL | 1,446 | $84K | 9.1% | 3.0% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Pulaski, 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 Pulaski: questions
What is the median household income in Mount Pulaski?
$66,176 (±$14,074) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mount Pulaski?
5.9%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mount Pulaski?
24 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mount Pulaski work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (18%, 24 mi), Decatur (14%, 21 mi), Lincoln (9%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mount Pulaski walkable?
Mount Pulaski is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mount Pulaski without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mount Pulaski, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mount Pulaski
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.