Photo: Nyttend · Public domainWork, pay and getting to work in Roanoke
About one in seven work in Roanoke; the top destination outside it is Peoria (10%, 22 miles). The two grades for Roanoke are B+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. Commuters spend 22 minutes getting to work on average, next to 28 for Illinois and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Roanoke: the gist
Roanoke’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Roanoke is Peoria, 22 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (90) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Roanoke makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Roanoke are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Roanoke residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 20%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Roanoke are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
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 917 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Roanoke earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Roanoke is better than 67% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Roanoke’s grade up (5.5%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (0.9%) is left out: Roanoke’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, Roanoke could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Miles to work from Roanoke
About 19% 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.
Making and building: 36% of jobs based in Roanoke
657 jobs are based in Roanoke.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Roanoke, 2013 → 2023: 773 → 657. 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 Roanoke’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 22 minutes in Roanoke
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Roanoke workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 830 commuters (the 10% 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 many people are in Roanoke by day
On a workday 788 residents head out to work, 129 work right here, and 528 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Roanoke on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.72 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Where Roanoke goes to work
Where Roanoke clocks in
7% of workers
6% 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.
Roanoke is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Roanoke is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Roanoke near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 925 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). 2.6% of Roanoke households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Roanoke’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600, Roanoke ranks 1,413th of 5,921 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Bannockburn IL | 1,308 | $214K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,411 | Tyrone Township PA | 2,355 | $77K | 12.4% | 1.0% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,412 | North Newton Township PA | 2,600 | $78K | 9.4% | 2.0% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,413 | Roanoke IL | 1,918 | $82K | 5.5% | 0.9% | 14% | B+ |
| 1,414 | Pemberton NJ | 1,406 | $91K | 14.5% | 8.1% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,415 | New Hartford NY | 1,842 | $83K | 9.5% | 2.6% | 8% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Roanoke, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
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 Roanoke: questions
What is the median household income in Roanoke?
$82,063 (±$21,808) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Roanoke?
5.5%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Roanoke?
22 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Roanoke work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Peoria (10%, 22 mi), Bloomington (7%, 25 mi), Eureka (6%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Roanoke walkable?
Roanoke is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Roanoke without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Roanoke, from the people who make the trip.
More of Roanoke
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.