Photo: David Wilson · CC BY 2.0Making a living in Oneida
6% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Only 5% work in Oneida itself; outside it, Galesburg draws the most (17%, 12 miles). The average commute takes 20 minutes each way; Illinois averages 28, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Oneida apart on work
Oneida and Galesburg trade workers both ways
Galesburg is the top workplace for Oneida residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Oneida come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Oneida are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. 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 323 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where people from Oneida work
Where Oneida clocks in
17% 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.
About 20 minutes to work from Oneida
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oneida workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 254 commuters (the 6% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Oneida
On a workday 307 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 199 people come in from elsewhere.
About 570 people are in Oneida on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.67 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.
Most jobs in Oneida are in services
215 jobs are based in Oneida.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oneida, 2013 → 2023: 157 → 215. 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 Oneida’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Oneida’s workers travel
About 27% 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 Oneida: questions
What is the median household income in Oneida?
$66,791 (±$6,042) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oneida?
3.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oneida?
20 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oneida work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Galesburg (17%, 12 mi), Peoria (8%, 39 mi), Galva (4%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Oneida without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oneida, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oneida
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.