Photo: Nyttend · Public domainRobinson at work: jobs, income and the commute
About two in five stay in Robinson for work; outside it, Robinson Township is the main destination (6%, 1 miles). Robinson grades C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 6% of workers, next to 16% for Illinois as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Robinson stands out on work
Commutes from Robinson are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 115 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Robinson is where the jobs are
Robinson has 4,744 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Robinson makes and builds things
35% of the jobs based in Robinson are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Robinson residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 28%. 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.
The figures behind Robinson’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Robinson is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #574 of 768 in Illinois. The poverty rate holds Robinson’s grade up (9.6%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Robinson could be anywhere from C− to B+.
A commute of about 13 minutes in Robinson
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Robinson workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,777 commuters (the 6% 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.
Who commutes out of Robinson, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,588 residents head out to work, 1,218 work right here, and 3,526 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,200 people are in Robinson on a workday afternoon, 27% more than live here.
1.7 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.
In Robinson, 35% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
4,744 jobs are based in Robinson.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Robinson, 2013 → 2023: 5,884 → 4,744. 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 Robinson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip into Robinson
Where Robinson clocks in
6% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Robinson
About 26% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Robinson
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Robinson is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #266 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Robinson 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 2,959 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). 4.6% of Robinson households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Robinson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 5,100 to 9,800, Robinson ranks 2,111th of 3,122 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Northfield IL | 5,632 | $162K | 3.2% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,109 | New Burlington OH | 5,426 | $73K | 12.6% | 12.6% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,110 | Byron GA | 6,567 | $86K | 10.1% | 9.4% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,111 | Robinson IL | 7,283 | $74K | 9.6% | 4.5% | 43% | C+ |
| 2,112 | Wabash Township IN | 6,698 | $61K | 10.0% | 3.5% | 15% | C+ |
| 2,113 | Butner NC | 8,112 | $75K | 15.0% | 5.5% | 6% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,122 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Robinson, 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 Robinson: questions
What is the median household income in Robinson?
$73,993 (±$4,850) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Robinson?
9.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Robinson?
13 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Robinson work?
43% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Robinson Township (6%, 1 mi), Allison Township (2%, 22 mi), Vincennes (2%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Robinson walkable?
Robinson is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Robinson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Robinson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Robinson
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.