Photo: IvoShandor · CC BY-SA 3.0Seneca has 0.6 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Working from home is the commute for 8% of workers; Illinois has 16%. Employers in Seneca report 569 jobs, and 1,009 of its residents work somewhere. Seneca grades C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Seneca’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Seneca is better than 42% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Seneca’s grade up ($86,830, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (22.2%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Seneca could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Seneca quiets down on a workday
On a workday 955 residents head out to work, 54 work right here, and 515 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Seneca on a workday afternoon, 19% 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.
11% of working residents work in Ottawa
Where Seneca clocks in
11% of workers
6% 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.
Jobs in Seneca: what the 569 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Seneca, 2013 → 2023: 492 → 569. 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 Seneca’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Seneca: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Seneca workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 894 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Seneca
About 29% 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 Seneca gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Seneca is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 7.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 974 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). 1.7% of Seneca households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Seneca’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,328 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100, Seneca comes 2,714th on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Wayne IL | 2,278 | $162K | 2.1% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,712 | Mapleton ME | 1,909 | $92K | 8.9% | 4.5% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,713 | Bear Lake Township MI | 1,806 | $73K | 4.5% | 4.8% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,714 | Seneca IL | 2,310 | $87K | 22.2% | 4.0% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,715 | Quogue NY | 1,703 | $90K | 29.5% | 0.0% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,716 | Lakeview OR | 2,419 | $71K | 12.4% | 1.0% | 48% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Seneca, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Around Seneca: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Brookfield Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Seneca workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seneca | – | C+ | B+ | 26 min | $86,830 |
| Manlius Township | under 2% | C | B | 30 min | $68,967 |
| Brookfield Township | 3% | C+ | D− | 27 min | $83,958 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Seneca’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 Seneca: questions
What is the median household income in Seneca?
$86,830 (±$20,382) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Seneca?
22.2%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Seneca?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Seneca work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ottawa (11%, 11 mi), Morris (6%, 11 mi), Marseilles (5%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Seneca walkable?
Seneca is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Seneca 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 Seneca, from the people who make the trip.
More of Seneca
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.