Most of Roscoe commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Jobs and income earn Roscoe A−; getting around on foot earns it C. Employers in Roscoe report 2,647 jobs for 5,134 working residents. Only 4% work in Roscoe itself; outside it, Rockford draws the most (29%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Roscoe in brief
Roscoe’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Roscoe is better than 80% of U.S. towns, #247 of 768 in Illinois. The poverty rate is its strongest input (5.5%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Roscoe could be anywhere from B to A.
The towns that employ Roscoe’s residents
Where Roscoe clocks in
29% 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.
A workday in Roscoe: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 4,919 residents head out to work, 215 work right here, and 2,432 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,500 people are in Roscoe on a workday afternoon, 23% 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.
The kinds of work in Roscoe
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Roscoe, 2013 → 2023: 2,020 → 2,647. 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 Roscoe’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Roscoe: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Roscoe workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,370 commuters (the 16% 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 Roscoe goes to work
About 25% 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.
In Roscoe, most people drive to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,175 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 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). 4.2% of Roscoe households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Roscoe’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Roscoe ranks: 756th of 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 754 | Yorktown IN | 11,947 | $82K | 4.8% | 2.1% | 10% | A− |
| 755 | Maryville IL | 8,413 | $101K | 2.7% | 6.2% | 5% | A− |
| 756 | Roscoe IL | 11,034 | $93K | 5.5% | 3.5% | 4% | A− |
| 757 | Red Bank NJ | 12,896 | $97K | 8.7% | 3.5% | 11% | A− |
| 758 | California MD | 13,136 | $120K | 6.9% | 2.1% | 15% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Roscoe, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Work next door: 10% of Roscoe’s workers
The biggest share goes to Machesney Park (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Roscoe workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roscoe | – | A− | C | 27 min | $93,036 |
| South Beloit | 2% | B | B− | 25 min | $78,616 |
| Rockton | 3% | A | C | 25 min | $119,058 |
| Machesney Park | 5% | C+ | C+ | 22 min | $75,489 |
| Roscoe Township | under 3% | A− | C+ | 27 min | $108,711 |
| Harlem Township | under 3% | B− | C+ | 23 min | $77,883 |
| Rockton Township | under 3% | B | C+ | 25 min | $77,092 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Roscoe’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 Roscoe: questions
What is the median household income in Roscoe?
$93,036 (±$13,940) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Roscoe?
5.5%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Roscoe?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Roscoe work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rockford (29%, 12 mi), Loves Park (7%, 6 mi), Beloit (5%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Roscoe walkable?
Roscoe is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Roscoe without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Roscoe, from the people who make the trip.
More of Roscoe
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.