Photo: IvoShandor · CC BY-SA 3.0Plano has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Working from home is the commute for 7% of workers, where Illinois as a whole has 16%. Employers in Plano report 2,871 jobs, and 6,461 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Plano are B for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Plano and work: the main findings
Plano’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Plano is Chicago, 45 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (671) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
44% of the jobs in Plano are in trade, transport and utilities, against 29% of the jobs its residents hold. 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Plano
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Plano is better than 59% of U.S. towns, #431 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Plano’s grade up (ahead of 69% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (4.8%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Plano could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
How far Plano’s workers travel
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 Plano’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Plano, 2013 → 2023: 2,528 → 2,871. 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 Plano’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Plano on a workday
On a workday 5,999 residents head out to work, 462 work right here, and 2,409 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,100 people are in Plano on a workday afternoon, 28% 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.
10% of working residents work in Chicago
Where Plano clocks in
10% of workers
9% of workers
5% 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.
Commuting from Plano: about 28 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Plano workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,156 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.
Driving is how Plano gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Plano is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns, #549 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Plano 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 6,615 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). 0.7% of Plano households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Plano’s commuters take a bus or train.
Plano places 1,249th of 2,354 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | La Grange IL | 15,935 | $160K | 4.6% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Riverside Township IL | 16,083 | $122K | 4.5% | 1.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,247 | Southchase FL | 13,981 | $92K | 11.9% | 6.1% | 2% | B |
| 1,248 | Kapaa HI | 11,094 | $89K | 7.5% | 2.3% | 11% | B |
| 1,249 | Plano IL | 12,677 | $86K | 10.2% | 4.8% | 7% | B |
| 1,250 | Ayer MA | 9,267 | $102K | 10.7% | 7.0% | 10% | B |
| 1,251 | Edgewater Park Township NJ | 9,617 | $85K | 18.6% | 4.2% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Plano, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
How Plano compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Yorkville (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Plano’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 Plano: questions
What is the median household income in Plano?
$86,271 (±$10,532) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Plano?
10.2%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Plano?
28 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Plano work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (10%, 45 mi), Aurora (9%, 14 mi), Yorkville (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Plano walkable?
Plano is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Plano without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Plano, from the people who make the trip.
More of Plano
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.