Photo: Jesster79 · CC BY-SA 3.0Savanna’s household incomes are lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
8% of workers work from home; Illinois has 16%. Below the poverty line: 18.6% of residents, next to 11.8% across Illinois. The two grades for Savanna are C for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Savanna: the figures worth knowing
Savanna trades workers with the towns around it
Savanna has about as many jobs (1,142) as working residents (1,025), but they are mostly different people: 767 residents leave for work each day while 884 people come in. Only 23% of the jobs in Savanna are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Savanna are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Savanna makes and builds things
44% of the jobs based in Savanna are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Savanna 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 four measures behind Savanna’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Savanna is better than 26% of U.S. towns, #654 of 768 in Illinois. Unemployment holds Savanna’s grade up (1.7%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($48,036, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Savanna could be anywhere from D to C+.
Savanna by day and by night
On a workday 767 residents head out to work, 258 work right here, and 884 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.11 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
From Savanna, about 20 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Savanna workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,100 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.
Savanna makes things: 44% of its jobs are in goods
1,142 jobs are based in Savanna.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Savanna, 2013 → 2023: 1,304 → 1,142. 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 Savanna’s own residents hold wherever they work.
7% of working residents work in Clinton
Where Savanna clocks in
7% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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 far it is to work from Savanna
About 22% 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 Savanna, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Savanna is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #237 of 768 in Illinois. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 8.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,191 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 Savanna households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Savanna’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Savanna ranks: 3,399th of 4,797 U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,600
| # | 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Wayne IL | 2,278 | $162K | 2.1% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,397 | Bald Eagle Township PA | 2,047 | $76K | 21.0% | 5.0% | 6% | C |
| 3,398 | Patrick Springs VA | 2,223 | $63K | 9.3% | 3.7% | 6% | C |
| 3,399 | Savanna IL | 2,699 | $48K | 18.6% | 1.7% | 25% | C |
| 3,400 | Spencer Township OH | 3,005 | $63K | 11.8% | 5.2% | 10% | C |
| 3,401 | Woodcock Township PA | 2,727 | $67K | 10.8% | 6.9% | 6% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,797 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Savanna, 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 Savanna: questions
What is the median household income in Savanna?
$48,036 (±$12,013) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Savanna?
18.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Savanna?
20 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Savanna work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Clinton (7%, 18 mi), Fulton (3%, 16 mi), Mount Carroll (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Savanna walkable?
Savanna is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Savanna without a car?
2% 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 Savanna, from the people who make the trip.
More of Savanna
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.