Photo: DianePearse69 · CC BY-SA 4.0Pana has lower household incomes than 92% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Pana itself; outside it, Decatur draws the most (8%, 33 miles). Poverty touches 13.3% of residents, where Illinois as a whole has 11.8%. For jobs and income Pana is better than 13% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Pana, in brief
Commutes from Pana 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 ↓
Pana’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Pana is Decatur, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (176) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Many jobs in Pana pay little
30% of the jobs based in Pana pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Pana
52% of Pana residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 32% of the jobs based in Pana pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 79% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Pana’s grade explained
The poverty rate holds Pana’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($46,168, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pana could be anywhere from D to C+.
A commute of about 19 minutes in Pana
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pana workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,976 commuters (the 10% 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 Pana goes to work
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.
Jobs in Pana: what the 1,623 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pana, 2013 → 2023: 1,955 → 1,623. 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 Pana’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Pana quiets down on a workday
On a workday 1,753 residents head out to work, 460 work right here, and 1,163 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,400 people are in Pana on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.73 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.
Where Pana’s working residents head each day
Where Pana clocks in
8% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Pana
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,200 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). 15.5% of Pana households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Pana’s commuters take a bus or train.
Pana next to U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,800: 3,346th of 3,758 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | South Barrington IL | 5,071 | $222K | 1.0% | 2.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Deer Park IL | 3,647 | $174K | 1.3% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,344 | Amory MS | 6,386 | $53K | 16.4% | 7.0% | 24% | D |
| 3,345 | New Boston TX | 4,560 | $64K | 18.5% | 10.6% | 16% | D |
| 3,346 | Pana IL | 5,010 | $46K | 13.3% | 6.4% | 21% | D |
| 3,347 | North Vernon IN | 6,559 | $51K | 16.7% | 7.1% | 22% | D |
| 3,348 | Hampton IA | 4,264 | $47K | 18.1% | 4.8% | 34% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,758 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Pana, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Pana and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pana workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pana | – | D | A− | 19 min | $46,168 |
| Pana Township | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Tower Hill Township | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Pana Township: not graded. Tower Hill Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Pana’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 Pana: questions
What is the median household income in Pana?
$46,168 (±$5,022) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pana?
13.3%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pana?
19 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pana work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Decatur (8%, 33 mi), Springfield (8%, 40 mi), Shelbyville (7%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pana walkable?
Pana is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pana without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pana, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pana
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.