Photo: Gerry Dincher · CC BY-SA 2.0Most of Payson commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
Only 3% work in Payson itself; outside it, Quincy draws the most (36%, 11 miles). 114 jobs are based in Payson; 485 of its residents have a job. Working from home is the commute for 5% of workers (Illinois 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Payson, in a few figures
Payson and Quincy trade workers both ways
Quincy is the top workplace for Payson residents (36%) and also where the most people who work in Payson come from (19% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Payson is a place people come home to
There are 114 jobs based in Payson, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Payson has about 620 people in it, 37% 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 485 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The towns that employ Payson’s residents
Where Payson clocks in
36% 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 flow of workers through Payson
On a workday 471 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 100 people come in from elsewhere.
About 620 people are in Payson on a workday afternoon, 37% 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.
What Payson’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Payson, 2013 → 2023: 116 → 114. 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’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Payson takes about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Payson workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 502 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.
The distance from Payson 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.
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: questions
What is the median household income in Payson?
$60,478 (±$7,576) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Payson?
12.5%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Payson?
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 Payson work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Quincy (36%, 11 mi), Ellington Township (11%, 13 mi), Melrose Township (5%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Payson 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, from the people who make the trip.
More of Payson
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.