Photo: Village of Oak Lawn · CC BY 2.0More people are out of work in Oak Lawn (5.4%) than in 67% of U.S. towns
Only 7% work in Oak Lawn; the top destination outside it is Chicago (36%, 9 miles). Oak Lawn grades B+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 4.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 36.9 in Chicago.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Oak Lawn: the gist
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Oak Lawn
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Oak Lawn is better than 66% of U.S. towns, #364 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Oak Lawn’s grade up (ahead of 98% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oak Lawn could be anywhere from B to A−.
Where Oak Lawn goes to work
Where Oak Lawn clocks in
36% of workers
2% 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.
Who leaves Oak Lawn for work, and who comes in
On a workday 23,504 residents head out to work, 1,819 work right here, and 18,265 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.
Jobs in Oak Lawn: what the 20,084 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oak Lawn, 2013 → 2023: 20,597 → 20,084. 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 Oak Lawn’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Oak Lawn, about 31 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oak Lawn workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 23,947 commuters (the 11% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Oak Lawn
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Oak Lawn
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oak Lawn is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns, #76 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Oak Lawn 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 26,838 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 90% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 29% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 82% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 6.1% of Oak Lawn households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Oak Lawn’s commuters take a bus or train.
Oak Lawn is 390th of 758 U.S. towns of 40,000 to 76,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Liberty Township OH | 40,625 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Bartlett IL | 40,855 | $133K | 4.2% | 2.6% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | New Lenox Township IL | 45,290 | $133K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | New Trier Township IL | 56,118 | $216K | 2.9% | 4.0% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 388 | San Rafael CA | 59,410 | $119K | 11.7% | 5.4% | 19% | B+ |
| 389 | Fountainebleau FL | 55,665 | $65K | 12.7% | 2.5% | 4% | B+ |
| 390 | Oak Lawn IL | 56,450 | $84K | 9.6% | 5.4% | 7% | B+ |
| 391 | Burnsville MN | 65,244 | $87K | 10.8% | 5.0% | 13% | B+ |
| 392 | Irondequoit NY | 50,180 | $79K | 9.2% | 4.4% | 9% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 758 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Oak Lawn, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
40% of Oak Lawn works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Oak Lawn workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Lawn | – | B+ | A | 31 min | $83,911 |
| Chicago Ridge | 1% | C+ | A | 32 min | $68,964 |
| Alsip | 2% | C+ | A | 30 min | $66,585 |
| Bridgeview | 1% | C+ | A | 31 min | $66,655 |
| Hometown | under 2% | A− | A+ | 28 min | $61,101 |
| Worth Township | under 2% | B | A | 30 min | $77,966 |
| Chicago | 36% | B− | A+ | 33 min | $77,902 |
| Burbank | under 2% | B− | A | 31 min | $80,116 |
| Stickney Township | under 2% | B | A | 30 min | $78,454 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Chicago. Darker towns draw more of Oak Lawn’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Oak Lawn: questions
What is the median household income in Oak Lawn?
$83,911 (±$4,762) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oak Lawn?
9.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oak Lawn?
31 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oak Lawn work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (36%, 9 mi), Bedford Park (2%, 4 mi), Alsip (2%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oak Lawn walkable?
Oak Lawn is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.8 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oak Lawn without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 29% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oak Lawn, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oak Lawn
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.