Photo: IvoShandor · CC BY 2.5With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Paw Paw works elsewhere
Working from home is the commute for 7% of workers; Illinois has 16%. Paw Paw has 90 jobs, and 378 of its residents work somewhere. Only 3% stay in Paw Paw for work; outside it, Mendota is the main destination (8%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Paw Paw apart
Paw Paw is a place people come home to
There are 90 jobs based in Paw Paw, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Paw Paw has about 510 people in it, 36% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Paw Paw workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 40 minutes each way, against 28 across Illinois. Over a year that’s about 307 hours of commuting, 92 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 378 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How a workday changes Paw Paw
On a workday 366 residents head out to work, 12 work right here, and 78 people come in from elsewhere.
About 510 people are in Paw Paw on a workday afternoon, 36% 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 2024, primary jobs.
About 40 minutes to work from Paw Paw
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Paw Paw workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 366 commuters (the 7% 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 places Paw Paw commutes to
Where Paw Paw clocks in
5% 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.
What Paw Paw’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Paw Paw, 2014 → 2024: 67 → 90. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Paw Paw’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Paw Paw goes to work
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 2024.
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 2024, 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 Paw Paw: questions
What is the median household income in Paw Paw?
$65,156 (±$10,295) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Paw Paw?
8.3%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Paw Paw?
40 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Paw Paw work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mendota (8%, 11 mi), Chicago (5%, 68 mi), DeKalb (3%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Paw Paw 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 Paw Paw, from the people who make the trip.
More of Paw Paw
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.