Otto Township has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.6 for each
5% of workers have no commute at all (Illinois 16%). Employers in Otto Township report 532 jobs, and 961 of its residents work somewhere. Jobs and income earn Otto Township B; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Otto Township apart
What’s behind Otto Township’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Otto Township is better than 61% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Otto Township’s grade up (5.5%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 38% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (4.6%) is left out: Otto Township’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Otto Township could be anywhere from C to A−.
What Otto Township’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Otto Township, 2013 → 2023: 201 → 532. 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 Otto Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Otto Township on a workday
On a workday 926 residents head out to work, 35 work right here, and 497 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Otto Township on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
18% of working residents work in Kankakee
Where Otto Township clocks in
18% of workers
9% of workers
7% 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.
The daily trip from Otto Township: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Otto Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 789 commuters (the 5% 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.
How far Otto Township’s workers travel
About 28% 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.
Most trips from Otto Township start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Otto Township is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 4.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 833 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). 4.0% of Otto Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Otto Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Otto Township is 1,708th of 5,793 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,800 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Port Barrington IL | 1,584 | $150K | 2.7% | 2.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,706 | Meggett SC | 1,484 | $98K | 11.0% | 2.0% | 6% | B |
| 1,707 | Little River-Academy TX | 2,020 | $76K | 9.0% | 3.2% | 5% | B |
| 1,708 | Otto Township IL | 2,060 | $80K | 5.5% | 4.6% | 4% | B |
| 1,709 | Detroit Township MN | 1,974 | $94K | 9.6% | 2.1% | 1% | B |
| 1,710 | Camden Township OH | 1,513 | $60K | 4.7% | 2.5% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,793 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Otto Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Next door to Otto Township
The biggest share goes to Kankakee Township (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Otto Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otto Township | – | B | C | 26 min | $80,250 |
| Aroma Township | under 2% | B− | C− | 24 min | $74,740 |
| Kankakee Township | 1% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Chebanse Township | under 2% | B+ | C | 33 min | $83,281 |
| Limestone Township | under 2% | A− | D− | 23 min | $112,258 |
| Pilot Township | under 2% | B− | C | 25 min | $92,222 |
Same-state neighbors only. Kankakee Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Otto 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 Otto Township: questions
What is the median household income in Otto Township?
$80,250 (±$27,489) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Otto Township?
5.5%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Otto Township?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Otto Township work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kankakee (18%, 5 mi), Chicago (9%, 56 mi), Bradley (7%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Otto Township walkable?
Otto Township is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Otto Township without a car?
1% 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 Otto Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Otto 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.