With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of South Macon Township works elsewhere
South Macon Township grades B for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. There are 349 jobs in South Macon Township, against 665 working residents. For 7% of workers, the job is at home; Illinois has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in South Macon Township, in a few figures
Where South Macon Township’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, South Macon Township is better than 56% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds South Macon Township’s grade up (6.1%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 36% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (1.7%) is left out: South Macon Township’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, South Macon Township could be anywhere from C to A−.
44% of working residents work in Decatur
Where South Macon Township clocks in
Lines 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.
Who works in South Macon Township, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 603 residents head out to work, 62 work right here, and 287 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in South Macon Township 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 2024, primary jobs.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in South Macon Township
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in South Macon Township, 2014 → 2024: 265 → 349. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs South Macon Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 28 minutes from South Macon Township
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of South Macon Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 554 commuters (the 7% 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.
The commute from South Macon Township, by distance
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In South Macon Township, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, South Macon Township is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 6.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 594 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). 1.3% of South Macon Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of South Macon Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, South Macon Township is 1,693rd among 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,691 | Sea Breeze NC | 1,849 | $70K | 6.5% | 1.6% | 1% | B |
| 1,692 | De Graff OH | 1,256 | $84K | 7.5% | 3.9% | 2% | B |
| 1,693 | South Macon Township IL | 1,401 | $78K | 6.1% | 1.7% | 9% | B |
| 1,694 | Egremont MA | 1,369 | $101K | 8.0% | 0.0% | 7% | B |
| 1,695 | Orangeville NY | 1,249 | $86K | 4.8% | 2.9% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 South Macon Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Work in the towns next to South Macon Township
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | South Macon Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Macon Township | – | B | C+ | 28 min | $77,734 |
| Moweaqua Township | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| South Wheatland Township | under 2% | A− | D | 21 min | $94,427 |
| Pleasant View Township | under 2% | B− | B− | 29 min | $71,908 |
| Mount Zion Township | under 2% | A− | C− | 24 min | $102,500 |
Same-state neighbors only. Moweaqua Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of South Macon 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 2024, 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 South Macon Township: questions
What is the median household income in South Macon Township?
$77,734 (±$18,476) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in South Macon Township?
6.1%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from South Macon Township?
28 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in South Macon Township work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Decatur (44%, 11 mi), Macon (8%, 1 mi), Mount Zion (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is South Macon Township walkable?
South Macon Township is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around South Macon Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from South Macon Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of South Macon Township
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.