Photo: Paul Sableman from St. Louis, MO · CC BY 2.0Salem Township has lower unemployment (3.2%) than 66% of U.S. towns
4% of workers have no commute at all; Illinois has 16%. Jobs and income earn Salem Township C+; getting around on foot earns it B. About one in three work in Salem Township; the top destination outside it is Salem (33%, 2 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Salem Township in brief
Commutes from Salem Township are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 100 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker, and quicker than any town next door (18 to 29 minutes). Time on the road ↓
Salem Township is the work center of its corner
Every town that borders Salem Township (Tonti Township, Odin Township, Raccoon Township and Stevenson Township) has fewer jobs than working residents, while Salem Township has 1.5 per resident. Next door ↓
Salem Township and Salem trade workers both ways
Salem is the top workplace for Salem Township residents (33%) and also where the most people who work in Salem Township come from (19% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Salem Township draws workers from far and wide
The 5,586 jobs in Salem Township are filled from a wide area. Salem Township’s own residents hold 23% and the ten next-biggest home towns 16%; the other 61% 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Salem Township
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Salem Township is better than 40% of U.S. towns, #564 of 768 in Illinois. Unemployment holds Salem Township’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($64,865, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Salem Township could be anywhere from C− to B.
The daily trip from Salem Township: about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Salem Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,912 commuters (the 4% 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.
Where Salem Township’s workforce comes from
Where Salem Township clocks in
33% of workers
8% of workers
8% 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.
How many people are in Salem Township by day
On a workday 2,431 residents head out to work, 1,262 work right here, and 4,324 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Salem Township on a workday afternoon, 22% more than live here.
1.5 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 Salem Township, 34% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
5,586 jobs are based in Salem Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Salem Township, 2013 → 2023: 4,851 → 5,586. 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 Salem Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Salem Township to work
About 30% 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.
Driving is how Salem Township gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Salem Township is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns, #502 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Salem Township 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 4,095 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). 6.5% of Salem Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Salem Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Salem Township places 1,998th of 2,956 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 6,100 to 11,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 3 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Itasca IL | 9,488 | $114K | 2.0% | 2.6% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,996 | Boiling Spring Lakes NC | 6,875 | $63K | 8.5% | 3.5% | 4% | C+ |
| 1,997 | Aransas Pass TX | 8,842 | $63K | 14.8% | 3.9% | 11% | C+ |
| 1,998 | Salem Township IL | 8,785 | $65K | 12.2% | 3.2% | 34% | C+ |
| 1,999 | Sturgis SD | 6,922 | $54K | 9.2% | 3.0% | 33% | C+ |
| 2,000 | Rhinelander WI | 8,242 | $51K | 12.8% | 1.0% | 42% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,956 | 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 Salem Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Next door to Salem Township
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Salem Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salem Township | – | C+ | B | 15 min | $64,865 |
| Tonti Township | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
| Odin Township | under 2% | C− | C− | 29 min | $57,946 |
| Raccoon Township | under 2% | B | C− | 20 min | $78,487 |
| Stevenson Township | under 2% | C+ | D− | 24 min | $93,138 |
Same-state neighbors only. Tonti Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Salem 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 Salem Township: questions
What is the median household income in Salem Township?
$64,865 (±$9,733) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Salem Township?
12.2%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Salem Township?
15 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Salem Township work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Salem (33%, 2 mi), Centralia (8%, 10 mi), Mount Vernon (8%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Salem Township walkable?
Salem Township is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Salem Township without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Salem Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Salem 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.