Reading Township’s household incomes are lower than in 82% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 16.6% of residents, against 11.8% across Illinois. Reading Township grades D for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Home is the office for 6% of workers, where Illinois as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Reading Township
Reading Township and Streator trade workers both ways
Streator is the top workplace for Reading Township residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Reading Township come from (27% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Reading Township is the work center of its corner
Every town that borders Reading Township (Long Point Township, Newtown Township, Eagle Township and Osage Township) has fewer jobs than working residents, while Reading Township has 1.5 per resident. Next door ↓
Reading Township makes and builds things
66% of the jobs based in Reading Township are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Reading Township residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 29%. 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; with 790 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Reading Township gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Reading Township is better than 14% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Reading Township’s grade.
Unemployment (2.3%) is left out: Reading Township’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Reading Township could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Where Reading Township’s workforce comes from
Where Reading Township clocks in
24% of workers
7% of workers
4% 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.
Making and building: 66% of jobs based in Reading Township
1,202 jobs are based in Reading Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Reading Township, 2013 → 2023: 1,316 → 1,202. 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 Reading Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Reading Township
On a workday 687 residents head out to work, 103 work right here, and 1,099 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Reading Township on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting from Reading Township: about 27 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 Reading Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 804 commuters (the 6% 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.
Miles to work from Reading Township
About 27% 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.
Most trips from Reading Township start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Reading Township is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 4.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 852 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). 1.3% of Reading Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Reading Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,800, Reading Township ranks 4,657th of 5,793 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Port Barrington IL | 1,584 | $150K | 2.7% | 2.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,655 | Homer MI | 1,603 | $55K | 18.7% | 5.9% | 14% | D |
| 4,656 | Cassopolis MI | 1,707 | $41K | 20.5% | 7.3% | 8% | D |
| 4,657 | Reading Township IL | 2,049 | $54K | 16.6% | 2.3% | 13% | D |
| 4,658 | Eugene Township IN | 1,712 | $57K | 15.0% | 4.3% | 6% | D |
| 4,659 | Fields Creek Township MO | 1,772 | $43K | 10.8% | 4.3% | 23% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,793 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Reading Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Next door to Reading Township
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Reading Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading Township | – | D | C− | 27 min | $54,259 |
| Long Point Township | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Newtown Township | under 2% | — | — | 33 min | — |
| Eagle Township | under 2% | C | D | 18 min | $54,306 |
| Osage Township | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Long Point Township, Newtown Township and Osage Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Reading 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 Reading Township: questions
What is the median household income in Reading Township?
$54,259 (±$14,335) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Reading Township?
16.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Reading Township?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Reading Township work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Streator (24%, 5 mi), Pontiac (7%, 17 mi), Chicago (4%, 82 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Reading Township walkable?
Reading Township is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 4.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Reading Township without a car?
0% 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 Reading Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Reading 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.