Household incomes in Nokomis are lower than in 73% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Nokomis are C− for jobs and income and B for walkability. 9.4% of residents are in poverty, against 11.8% across Illinois. About one in five work in Nokomis itself; outside it, Taylorville draws the most (5%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Nokomis in brief
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Nokomis
On income, poverty and job access, Nokomis is better than 22% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Nokomis’ grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 13% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.1%) is left out: Nokomis’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, Nokomis could be anywhere from D to C+.
The commute from Nokomis, by distance
About 34% 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.
Who leaves Nokomis for work, and who comes in
On a workday 622 residents head out to work, 130 work right here, and 403 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Nokomis on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.71 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.
Out of Nokomis to work: where people go
Where Nokomis clocks in
5% of workers
5% of workers
5% 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.
Jobs in Nokomis: what the 533 are
533 jobs are based in Nokomis.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Nokomis, 2013 → 2023: 503 → 533. 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 Nokomis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 25 minutes from Nokomis
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Nokomis workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 826 commuters (the 13% 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.
Most trips from Nokomis start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Nokomis is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 10.8% across Illinois.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 945 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). 8.7% of Nokomis households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Nokomis’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900, Nokomis ranks 3,871st of 5,404 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 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Port Barrington IL | 1,584 | $150K | 2.7% | 2.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,869 | Bushnell Township MI | 1,575 | $66K | 10.0% | 4.1% | 1% | C− |
| 3,870 | Bethel Island CA | 1,864 | $75K | 34.6% | 35.5% | 2% | C− |
| 3,871 | Nokomis IL | 2,133 | $60K | 9.4% | 4.1% | 17% | C− |
| 3,872 | Chenoa IL | 1,705 | $66K | 21.3% | 3.4% | 3% | C− |
| 3,873 | Dassel MN | 1,524 | $60K | 13.3% | 0.8% | 12% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Nokomis, 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 Nokomis: questions
What is the median household income in Nokomis?
$60,326 (±$8,638) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Nokomis?
9.4%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Nokomis?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Nokomis work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Taylorville (5%, 18 mi), Hillsboro (5%, 13 mi), Springfield (5%, 39 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Nokomis walkable?
Nokomis is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Nokomis 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 Nokomis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Nokomis
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.