Lucein Boneparte Covell House · Photo: IvoShandor · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Richmond (8.9%) than in 92% of U.S. towns
Richmond grades B− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Only 4% work in Richmond; the top destination outside it is Chicago (10%, 54 miles). Commuters spend 31 minutes getting to work on average, where Illinois has 28 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Richmond stands out on work
The figures behind Richmond’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Richmond is better than 53% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Richmond’s grade up (5.2%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Richmond could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Richmond
About 20% 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.
Who works in Richmond, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,039 residents head out to work, 46 work right here, and 1,405 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Richmond on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.34 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where people from Richmond work
Where Richmond clocks in
10% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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.
Richmond works in goods: 30% of its jobs
1,451 jobs are based in Richmond.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Richmond, 2013 → 2023: 1,099 → 1,451. 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 Richmond’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Richmond: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Richmond workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,240 commuters (the 11% 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 Richmond gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Richmond is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,393 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.3% of Richmond households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Richmond’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Richmond is 2,082nd among 5,404 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900
| # | 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Port Barrington IL | 1,584 | $150K | 2.7% | 2.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,080 | Sugar Camp WI | 1,876 | $79K | 5.7% | 3.0% | 6% | B− |
| 2,081 | Driggs ID | 2,403 | $95K | 11.6% | 2.1% | 24% | B− |
| 2,082 | Richmond IL | 2,114 | $73K | 5.2% | 8.9% | 4% | B− |
| 2,083 | Buckner MO | 2,891 | $87K | 12.1% | 5.1% | 4% | B− |
| 2,084 | Southmont PA | 1,957 | $73K | 9.3% | 8.3% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | 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 Richmond, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
The towns around Richmond
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Richmond workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richmond | – | B− | B+ | 31 min | $73,029 |
| Solon Mills | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Solon Mills: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Richmond’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 Richmond: questions
What is the median household income in Richmond?
$73,029 (±$3,618) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Richmond?
5.2%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Richmond?
31 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Richmond work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (10%, 54 mi), McHenry (4%, 9 mi), Waukegan (3%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Richmond walkable?
Richmond is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Richmond without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Richmond, from the people who make the trip.
More of Richmond
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.