Photo: User:Visviva · CC BY-SA 4.0Ricks Township has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
There are 225 jobs in Ricks Township, and 496 of its residents work somewhere. Ricks Township grades C− for jobs and income and C for walkability. Home is the office for 4% of workers, against 16% across Illinois.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Ricks Township
Ricks Township and Taylorville trade workers both ways
Taylorville is the top workplace for Ricks Township residents (22%) and also where the most people who work in Ricks Township come from (11% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Ricks Township than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Ricks Township fell from 375 in 2013 to 225 in 2023, −40%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 496 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Ricks Township’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Ricks Township is better than 25% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Ricks Township’s grade up ($78,864, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 14% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.6%) is left out: Ricks 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, Ricks Township could be anywhere from D to B.
22% of working residents work in Taylorville
Where Ricks Township clocks in
22% of workers
18% 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.
What Ricks Township’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ricks Township, 2013 → 2023: 375 → 225. 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 Ricks Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Ricks Township commutes
About 32% 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.
Ricks Township on a workday afternoon
On a workday 482 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 211 people come in from elsewhere.
About 880 people are in Ricks Township on a workday afternoon, 24% 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.
About 25 minutes each way, quicker than most of Illinois
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ricks Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 574 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.
The commute in Ricks Township is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ricks Township is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 5.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 600 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). 4.3% of Ricks Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ricks Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Ricks Township is 2,680th of 4,312 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,678 | Moravia NY | 1,233 | $63K | 10.6% | 4.4% | 16% | C− |
| 2,679 | Monongah WV | 1,055 | $51K | 12.1% | 6.1% | 1% | C− |
| 2,680 | Ricks Township IL | 1,152 | $79K | 14.7% | 1.6% | 3% | C− |
| 2,681 | Caledonia Township MI | 1,071 | $72K | 9.2% | 3.0% | 1% | C− |
| 2,682 | Haines Township PA | 1,595 | $77K | 15.0% | 3.4% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Ricks Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Ricks Township and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ricks Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ricks Township | – | C− | C | 25 min | $78,864 |
| Bear Creek Township | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
| Greenwood Township | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| Rountree Township | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Bear Creek Township, Greenwood Township and Rountree Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ricks 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 Ricks Township: questions
What is the median household income in Ricks Township?
$78,864 (±$19,592) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ricks Township?
14.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ricks Township?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ricks Township work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Taylorville (22%, 12 mi), Springfield (18%, 29 mi), Decatur (6%, 40 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ricks Township walkable?
Ricks Township is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ricks Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ricks Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ricks 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.