Photo: Busjack · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Riverwoods earn more than in almost any other U.S. town
The poverty rate is 0.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois. Household incomes here are among the highest in the country. Riverwoods grades A+ for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Riverwoods
Riverwoods fills up on a workday
Riverwoods has 8,000 jobs, 4.7 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 10,000 people are in town, more than double the 3,800 who live here. Day and night ↓
Nearly all jobs in Riverwoods pay over $40,000 a year
85% of the jobs based in Riverwoods pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Nearly all the work in Riverwoods is services
99% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 0% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
Riverwoods’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Riverwoods is Chicago, 26 miles away as the crow flies. 23% of working residents (389) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Riverwoods draws workers from far and wide
The 8,000 jobs in Riverwoods are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 38%; the other 62% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Riverwoods
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Riverwoods is among the top U.S. towns, #1 of 768 in Illinois. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Riverwoods’ grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Riverwoods stays A+.
Riverwoods’s population more than doubles on a workday
On a workday 1,659 residents head out to work, 38 work right here, and 7,962 people come in from elsewhere.
About 10,000 people are in Riverwoods on a workday afternoon, 167% more than live here.
4.7 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Riverwoods
8,000 jobs are based in Riverwoods.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Riverwoods, 2013 → 2023: 5,540 → 8,000. 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 Riverwoods’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Riverwoods works
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.
Where Riverwoods’s workers come from
Where Riverwoods clocks in
23% of workers
5% 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.
Riverwoods’ commute takes about 34 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Riverwoods workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,360 commuters (the 25% 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.
In Riverwoods, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Riverwoods is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns, #139 of 768 in Illinois. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 8.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,806 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 13% 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 2.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 73% 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). 2.9% of Riverwoods households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 10% of Riverwoods’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,430 U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,100, Riverwoods comes 1st on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | South Barrington IL | 5,071 | $222K | 1.0% | 2.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Deer Park IL | 3,647 | $174K | 1.3% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | Lakewood IL | 4,293 | $174K | 3.5% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,430 | 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 Riverwoods, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
The towns next door employ 12% of Riverwoods
The biggest share goes to Deerfield (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Riverwoods workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverwoods | – | A+ | A | 34 min | $249,205 |
| Lincolnshire | 4% | A+ | A | 26 min | $185,580 |
| Buffalo Grove | 3% | A | A | 26 min | $129,395 |
| Deerfield | 5% | A+ | A | 28 min | $181,660 |
| Bannockburn | under 3% | A+ | A+ | 22 min | $214,000 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Riverwoods’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 Riverwoods: questions
What is the median household income in Riverwoods?
$249,205 (±$17,841) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Riverwoods?
0.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Riverwoods?
34 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 25% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Riverwoods work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (23%, 26 mi), Deerfield (5%, 2 mi), Northbrook (5%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Riverwoods walkable?
Riverwoods is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Riverwoods without a car?
10% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Riverwoods, from the people who make the trip.
More of Riverwoods
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.