Photo: David Wilson · CC BY 2.0Prairie du Rocher has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
4% of workers have no commute at all, where Illinois as a whole has 16%. There are 105 jobs in Prairie du Rocher, against 202 working residents. Only 3% stay in Prairie du Rocher for work; outside it, Red Bud is the main destination (15%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Prairie du Rocher
From Prairie du Rocher, about 28 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Prairie du Rocher workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 242 commuters (the 4% 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.
Prairie du Rocher by day and by night
On a workday 195 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 98 people come in from elsewhere.
About 410 people are in Prairie du Rocher on a workday afternoon, 19% 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.
Where the trip to work from Prairie du Rocher ends
Where Prairie du Rocher clocks in
15% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Prairie du Rocher
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Prairie du Rocher, 2014 → 2024: 66 → 105. 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 Prairie du Rocher’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Prairie du Rocher
About 19% 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 Prairie du Rocher: questions
What is the median household income in Prairie du Rocher?
$66,161 (±$12,886) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Prairie du Rocher?
8.2%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Prairie du Rocher?
28 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Prairie du Rocher work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Red Bud (15%, 10 mi), Ruma (7%, 6 mi), Sparta (7%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Prairie du Rocher without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Prairie du Rocher, from the people who make the trip.
More of Prairie du Rocher
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.