Photo: Gerry Dincher · CC BY-SA 2.0With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Payson Township works elsewhere
7% of workers have no commute at all, against 16% across Illinois. 172 jobs are based in Payson Township for 850 working residents. Jobs and income earn Payson Township C; getting around on foot earns it D.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Payson Township: the figures worth knowing
Payson Township and Quincy trade workers both ways
Quincy is the top workplace for Payson Township residents (38%) and also where the most people who work in Payson Township come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Payson Township is a place people come home to
There are 172 jobs based in Payson Township, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Payson Township has about 1,000 people in it, 40% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 850 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Payson Township’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Payson Township is better than 33% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Payson Township’s grade up (8.8%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 29% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (2.7%) is left out: Payson 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, Payson Township could be anywhere from C− to B−.
38% of working residents work in Quincy
Where Payson Township clocks in
38% 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.
Payson Township quiets down on a workday
On a workday 814 residents head out to work, 36 work right here, and 136 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Payson Township on a workday afternoon, 40% 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.
Jobs in Payson Township: what the 172 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Payson Township, 2013 → 2023: 195 → 172. 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 Payson Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Payson Township, about 29 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Payson Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 861 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.
How far Payson Township goes to work
About 25% 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 Payson Township, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Payson Township is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Payson Township near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 922 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). 0.0% of Payson Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Payson Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Payson Township next to U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300: 3,235th of 5,760 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Bannockburn IL | 1,308 | $214K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,233 | Superior NE | 1,821 | $64K | 5.5% | 1.1% | 42% | C |
| 3,234 | Hildebran NC | 1,691 | $56K | 21.1% | 3.8% | 3% | C |
| 3,235 | Payson Township IL | 1,695 | $62K | 8.8% | 2.7% | 4% | C |
| 3,236 | Hartford NY | 2,176 | $65K | 8.4% | 8.0% | 5% | C |
| 3,237 | Bloominggrove Township OH | 1,297 | $61K | 8.7% | 0.0% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Payson Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
How Payson Township compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Burton Township (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Payson Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payson Township | – | C | D | 29 min | $62,041 |
| Fall Creek Township | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| Burton Township | 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Richfield Township | under 2% | — | — | 36 min | — |
| Kinderhook Township | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Fall Creek Township, Burton Township, Richfield Township and Kinderhook Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Payson 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 Payson Township: questions
What is the median household income in Payson Township?
$62,041 (±$6,064) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Payson Township?
8.8%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Payson Township?
29 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Payson Township work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Quincy (38%, 13 mi), Ellington Township (10%, 14 mi), Melrose Township (5%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Payson Township walkable?
Payson Township is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Payson Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Payson Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Payson 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.