Photo: Nyttend · Public domainOrel Township’s household incomes are lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 6% of workers, against 16% across Illinois. 11.0% of residents are in poverty; Illinois has 11.8%. Orel Township grades 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
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Orel Township
On income, poverty and job access, Orel Township is better than 14% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Orel Township’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($48,542, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (2.3%) is left out: Orel Township’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, Orel Township could be anywhere from D to C.
The workday shuffle in and out of Orel Township
On a workday 478 residents head out to work, 35 work right here, and 200 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Orel Township on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
0.46 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.
16% of working residents work in Mount Vernon
Where Orel Township clocks in
16% of workers
11% 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 Orel Township: what the 235 are
235 jobs are based in Orel Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Orel Township, 2013 → 2023: 287 → 235. 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 Orel Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 27 minutes to work from Orel Township
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Orel Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 690 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.
Miles to work from Orel Township
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.
In Orel Township, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Orel Township is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.3% 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). 1.0% of Orel Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Orel Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Orel Township next to U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800: 4,151st of 5,400 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,149 | Port Byron NY | 1,215 | $49K | 24.6% | 5.0% | 4% | D |
| 4,150 | Frazeysburg OH | 1,356 | $51K | 16.3% | 4.6% | 3% | D |
| 4,151 | Orel Township IL | 1,338 | $49K | 11.0% | 2.3% | 7% | D |
| 4,152 | Jennings Township IN | 1,461 | $49K | 16.4% | 6.6% | 5% | D |
| 4,153 | Dayton NY | 1,637 | $69K | 18.3% | 1.4% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Orel Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
13% of Orel Township works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Big Mound Township (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Orel Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orel Township | – | D | C− | 27 min | $48,542 |
| Big Mound Township | 7% | D | A− | 18 min | $34,943 |
| Arrington Township | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Four Mile Township | under 2% | — | — | 36 min | — |
| Crouch Township | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Hickory Hill Township | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Wayne City | 6% | — | — | 26 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Arrington Township, Four Mile Township, Crouch Township, Hickory Hill Township and Wayne City: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Orel Township’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 Orel Township: questions
What is the median household income in Orel Township?
$48,542 (±$11,744) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Orel Township?
11.0%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Orel Township?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Orel Township work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mount Vernon (16%, 20 mi), Fairfield (11%, 11 mi), Big Mound Township (7%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Orel Township walkable?
Orel Township is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Orel Township without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Orel Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Orel Township
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.