Riverton has some of the lowest unemployment in the country, with hardly anyone out of work
Only 6% work in Riverton itself; outside it, Springfield draws the most (50%, 7 miles). The two grades for Riverton are A for jobs and income and B− for walkability. 0.9% of residents live below the poverty line; Illinois has 11.8%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Riverton at work: what stands out
Riverton trades workers with the towns around it
Riverton has about as many jobs (1,286) as working residents (1,476), but they are mostly different people: 1,389 residents leave for work each day while 1,199 people come in. Only 7% of the jobs in Riverton are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Riverton and Springfield trade workers both ways
Springfield is the top workplace for Riverton residents (50%) and also where the most people who work in Riverton come from (37% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Nearly all the work in Riverton is services
90% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 2% are in factories, building or farms. 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.
Where Riverton’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Riverton is better than 91% of U.S. towns, #108 of 768 in Illinois. Unemployment is its strongest input (hardly any, U.S. 5.2%); household income ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns ($80,920, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Riverton stays A.
The daily commute in and out of Riverton
On a workday 1,389 residents head out to work, 87 work right here, and 1,199 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.87 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 Riverton’s working residents head each day
Where Riverton clocks in
50% of workers
2% 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.
Riverton is a services town
1,286 jobs are based in Riverton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Riverton, 2013 → 2023: 1,349 → 1,286. 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 Riverton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 29 minutes from Riverton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Riverton workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,161 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.
How far Riverton’s workers travel
About 24% 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 of Riverton commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Riverton is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns, #565 of 768 in Illinois. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 10.8% across Illinois.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,435 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 88% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 88% 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). 0.0% of Riverton households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Riverton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Riverton is 390th of 4,535 U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,700 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 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Deer Park IL | 3,647 | $174K | 1.3% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 388 | North Hudson WI | 3,803 | $123K | 4.2% | 3.7% | 2% | A |
| 389 | La Grange WI | 2,475 | $96K | 4.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A |
| 390 | Riverton IL | 3,471 | $81K | 0.9% | 0.0% | 6% | A |
| 391 | Reno TX | 3,823 | $96K | 6.3% | 1.0% | 1% | A |
| 392 | Belleville WI | 2,705 | $88K | 4.0% | 0.9% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,535 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Riverton, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
The towns around Riverton
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Riverton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverton | – | A | B− | 29 min | $80,920 |
| Spaulding | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Spaulding: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Riverton’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 Riverton: questions
What is the median household income in Riverton?
$80,920 (±$5,194) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Riverton?
0.9%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Riverton?
29 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Riverton work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (50%, 7 mi), Decatur (3%, 32 mi), Chicago (2%, 168 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Riverton walkable?
Riverton is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 11.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Riverton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 88% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Riverton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Riverton
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.