Photo: Nyttend · Public domainWith 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Palestine works elsewhere
3% of workers work from home, where Illinois as a whole has 16%. There are 160 jobs in Palestine; 440 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Palestine 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
The commute and the jobs: Palestine in brief
Palestine and Robinson trade workers both ways
Robinson is the top workplace for Palestine residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Palestine come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Palestine workers work from home
Only 3% 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 440 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Palestine gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Palestine is better than 14% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Palestine’s grade up ($62,850, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 13% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.2%) is left out: Palestine’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, Palestine could be anywhere from D to C.
32% of working residents work in Robinson
Where Palestine clocks in
32% of workers
7% of workers
3% 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.
A commute of about 25 minutes in Palestine
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Palestine workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 658 commuters (the 3% 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.
A workday in Palestine: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 424 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 144 people come in from elsewhere.
About 930 people are in Palestine on a workday afternoon, 23% 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.
The kinds of work in Palestine
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Palestine, 2013 → 2023: 158 → 160. 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 Palestine’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Palestine’s workers travel
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.
Most trips from Palestine start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Palestine is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 5.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 678 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). 8.0% of Palestine households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Palestine’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600, Palestine ranks 3,279th of 4,312 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,277 | Jonesport ME | 1,244 | $68K | 13.5% | 5.4% | 13% | D |
| 3,278 | Sunsbury Township OH | 1,240 | $63K | 12.4% | 1.8% | 6% | D |
| 3,279 | Palestine IL | 1,210 | $63K | 15.0% | 3.2% | 4% | D |
| 3,280 | Wymore NE | 1,341 | $57K | 11.2% | 4.7% | 11% | D |
| 3,281 | Burlington Township MI | 1,419 | $61K | 12.8% | 2.9% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | 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 Palestine, 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 Palestine: questions
What is the median household income in Palestine?
$62,850 (±$11,693) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Palestine?
15.0%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Palestine?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Palestine work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Robinson (32%, 6 mi), Robinson Township (7%, 8 mi), Marshall (3%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Palestine walkable?
Palestine is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Palestine without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Palestine, from the people who make the trip.
More of Palestine
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.