Most of Ross Township commutes out: there are 0.6 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Ross Township report 259 jobs, and 451 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Ross Township are D for jobs and income and C for walkability. 8% of workers have no commute at all (Illinois 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Ross Township, in a few figures
Where Ross Township’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Ross Township is better than 12% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Ross Township’s grade up ($61,850, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 11% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (5.1%) is left out: Ross Township’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Ross Township could be anywhere from D− to C+.
About 21 minutes each way, quicker than most of Illinois
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ross Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 492 commuters (the 8% 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 a workday changes Ross Township
On a workday 399 residents head out to work, 52 work right here, and 207 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Ross Township on a workday afternoon, 13% 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.
19% of working residents work in Paris
Where Ross Township clocks in
19% 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.
Ross Township is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ross Township, 2013 → 2023: 268 → 259. 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 Ross Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Ross Township’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Most of Ross Township commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ross Township is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 5.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 535 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). 2.4% of Ross Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ross Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
5,005th of 6,308: where Ross Township ranks among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,003 | Rutledge TN | 1,411 | $50K | 24.8% | 7.8% | 10% | D |
| 5,004 | Hemphill TX | 1,027 | $67K | 16.6% | 11.3% | 23% | D |
| 5,005 | Ross Township IL | 1,466 | $62K | 15.3% | 5.1% | 12% | D |
| 5,006 | Sherman Township MI | 1,128 | $76K | 22.1% | 5.4% | 2% | D |
| 5,007 | Tyrone NY | 1,557 | $72K | 21.2% | 9.4% | 2% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Ross Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Ross Township and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ross Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ross Township | – | D | C | 21 min | $61,850 |
| Young America Township | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Prairie Township | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Carroll Township | under 2% | — | — | 30 min | — |
| Elwood Township | under 2% | C− | D | 32 min | $54,375 |
Same-state neighbors only. Young America Township, Prairie Township and Carroll Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ross Township’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 Ross Township: questions
What is the median household income in Ross Township?
$61,850 (±$11,623) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ross Township?
15.3%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ross Township?
21 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ross Township work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Paris (19%, 15 mi), Chrisman (11%, 3 mi), Champaign (5%, 36 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ross Township walkable?
Ross Township is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ross Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ross Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ross Township
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.