Earning a living in Onarga
For jobs and income Onarga is better than 41% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (C+). Working from home is the commute for 2% of workers; Illinois has 16%. Only 6% work in Onarga itself; outside it, Gilman draws the most (18%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Onarga, in a few figures
Onarga and Gilman trade workers both ways
Gilman is the top workplace for Onarga residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Onarga come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Onarga are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Onarga workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 558 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Onarga: the grade in detail
The poverty rate holds Onarga’s grade up (8.6%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 20% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (3.8%) is left out: Onarga’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, Onarga could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Out of Onarga to work: where people go
Where Onarga clocks in
18% of workers
4% 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.
From Onarga, about 19 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Onarga workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 714 commuters (the 2% 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.
Onarga quiets down on a workday
On a workday 522 residents head out to work, 36 work right here, and 315 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Onarga on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.63 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 work there is in Onarga: 351 jobs
351 jobs are based in Onarga.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Onarga, 2013 → 2023: 348 → 351. 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 Onarga’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Onarga
About 29% 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 commute in Onarga is mostly behind the wheel
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.6% 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 731 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). 3.2% of Onarga households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Onarga’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,379th of 5,400: where Onarga ranks among U.S. towns of 900 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,377 | Aurora WI | 1,020 | $79K | 5.8% | 5.3% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,378 | Panaca NV | 1,015 | $64K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,379 | Onarga IL | 1,305 | $78K | 8.6% | 3.8% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,380 | Fort Benton MT | 1,416 | $67K | 3.0% | 0.0% | 44% | C+ |
| 2,381 | Lowe Township IL | 1,754 | $85K | 12.6% | 3.7% | 11% | 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 Onarga, 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 Onarga: questions
What is the median household income in Onarga?
$78,352 (±$12,738) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Onarga?
8.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Onarga?
19 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Onarga work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gilman (18%, 3 mi), Onarga Township (5%, 2 mi), Kankakee (4%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Onarga walkable?
Onarga is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Onarga without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Onarga, from the people who make the trip.
More of Onarga
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.