Neoga at work: jobs, income and the commute
The two grades for Neoga are C+ for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Only 6% work in Neoga; the top destination outside it is Effingham (20%, 15 miles). Working from home is the commute for 9% of workers, where Illinois as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Neoga apart
Income, poverty and work: Neoga’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Neoga is better than 36% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Neoga’s grade.
Unemployment (3.2%) is left out: Neoga’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, Neoga could be anywhere from C− to B.
From Neoga, about 19 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Neoga workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 499 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.
Neoga by day and by night
On a workday 580 residents head out to work, 37 work right here, and 411 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Neoga on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.73 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.
The towns that employ Neoga’s residents
Where Neoga clocks in
20% of workers
14% 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.
Making and building: 28% of jobs based in Neoga
448 jobs are based in Neoga.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Neoga, 2013 → 2023: 448 → 448. 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 Neoga’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Neoga, by distance
About 24% 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.
Most of Neoga commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Neoga is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Neoga 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 548 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). 8.8% of Neoga households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Neoga’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,678th of 5,400: where Neoga ranks among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,676 | Adams WI | 1,400 | $76K | 9.3% | 1.1% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,677 | Prairie Lake WI | 1,670 | $71K | 9.2% | 1.0% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,678 | Neoga IL | 1,369 | $73K | 11.8% | 3.2% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,679 | Bowling Green VA | 1,284 | $83K | 14.6% | 7.5% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,680 | Erin NY | 1,744 | $67K | 7.8% | 3.1% | <1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | 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 Neoga, 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 Neoga: questions
What is the median household income in Neoga?
$73,355 (±$12,556) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Neoga?
11.8%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Neoga?
19 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Neoga work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Effingham (20%, 15 mi), Mattoon (14%, 12 mi), Lafayette Township (6%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Neoga walkable?
Neoga is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Neoga without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Neoga, from the people who make the trip.
More of Neoga
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.