New Salem has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
There are 7 jobs in New Salem, against 43 working residents. Only 2% work in New Salem itself; outside it, Pittsfield draws the most (12%, 8 miles). 23% of workers work from home, where Illinois as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who works in New Salem, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 42 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 6 people come in from elsewhere.
About 80 people are in New Salem on a workday afternoon, 31% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where New Salem goes to work
Where New Salem clocks in
12% of workers
12% of workers
12% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in New Salem
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
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 New Salem’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 21 minutes in New Salem
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of New Salem workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 36 commuters (the 23% 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.
How far New Salem goes to work
About 40% 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 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 New Salem: questions
What is the median household income in New Salem?
$46,875 (±$44,328) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in New Salem?
24.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from New Salem?
21 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in New Salem work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pittsfield (12%, 8 mi), Quincy (12%, 32 mi), Springfield (12%, 64 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around New Salem without a car?
14% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from New Salem, from the people who make the trip.
More of New Salem
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.