Household incomes in Oakwood are lower than in 92% of U.S. towns
Only 4% stay in Oakwood for work; outside it, Danville is the main destination (19%, 9 miles). 24.8% of residents are in poverty, where Illinois as a whole has 11.8%. The two grades for Oakwood are D for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Oakwood: the gist
Oakwood and Danville trade workers both ways
Danville is the top workplace for Oakwood residents (19%) and also where the most people who work in Oakwood come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 603 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Oakwood’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Oakwood is better than 11% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Oakwood’s grade up (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (2.3%) is left out: Oakwood’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, Oakwood could be anywhere from D to C−.
Where Oakwood goes to work
Where Oakwood clocks in
19% of workers
10% of workers
8% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Oakwood
About 33% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Oakwood
On a workday 577 residents head out to work, 26 work right here, and 223 people come in from elsewhere.
About 920 people are in Oakwood on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.
0.41 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.
What the 249 jobs in Oakwood are
249 jobs are based in Oakwood.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oakwood, 2013 → 2023: 211 → 249. 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 Oakwood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 26 minutes in Oakwood
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oakwood workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 460 commuters (the 10% 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.
Getting around Oakwood: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oakwood is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Oakwood 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 511 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). 4.4% of Oakwood households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oakwood’s commuters take a bus or train.
Oakwood places 3,906th of 4,866 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,904 | Lunenburg VT | 1,266 | $53K | 10.6% | 9.0% | 1% | D |
| 3,905 | Indian Lake MO | 1,135 | $71K | 27.6% | 16.3% | 1% | D |
| 3,906 | Oakwood IL | 1,274 | $46K | 24.8% | 2.3% | 4% | D |
| 3,907 | Mount Gilead NC | 1,187 | $59K | 16.8% | 7.3% | 8% | D |
| 3,908 | Ferron UT | 1,522 | $71K | 17.7% | 7.6% | 8% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Oakwood, 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 Oakwood: questions
What is the median household income in Oakwood?
$46,293 (±$6,046) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oakwood?
24.8%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oakwood?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oakwood work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Danville (19%, 9 mi), Champaign (10%, 26 mi), Urbana (8%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oakwood walkable?
Oakwood is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oakwood without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oakwood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oakwood
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.