Photo: TCP04 · CC BY 4.0Households in St. Elmo have lower incomes than those in 93% of U.S. towns
The two grades for St. Elmo are D− for jobs and income and B for walkability. 27.8% of residents live below the poverty line (Illinois 11.8%). About one in ten work in St. Elmo itself; outside it, Effingham draws the most (16%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in St. Elmo, in a few figures
St. Elmo makes and builds things
50% of the jobs based in St. Elmo are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs St. Elmo residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 21%. The jobs ↓
St. Elmo has added jobs fast
Jobs based in St. Elmo went from 450 in 2013 to 734 in 2023, +63%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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; with 532 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How St. Elmo earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, St. Elmo is better than 4% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds St. Elmo’s grade up (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (7.4%) is left out: St. Elmo’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, St. Elmo could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Factories, building and farms: 50% of the jobs in St. Elmo
734 jobs are based in St. Elmo.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Elmo, 2013 → 2023: 450 → 734. 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 St. Elmo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from St. Elmo
About 32% 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.
Who leaves St. Elmo for work, and who comes in
On a workday 471 residents head out to work, 61 work right here, and 673 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in St. Elmo on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.38 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.
Out of St. Elmo to work: where people go
Where St. Elmo clocks in
16% of workers
6% 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.
About 23 minutes each way for St. Elmo’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Elmo workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 425 commuters (the 9% 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 in St. Elmo is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, St. Elmo is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place St. Elmo 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 467 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). 2.6% of St. Elmo households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of St. Elmo’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600, and where St. Elmo sits
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,938 | Astor FL | 1,391 | $57K | 19.7% | 3.2% | 2% | D− |
| 3,939 | Parachute CO | 1,366 | $59K | 27.5% | 18.7% | 8% | D− |
| 3,940 | St. Elmo IL | 1,213 | $45K | 27.8% | 7.4% | 11% | D− |
| 3,941 | Loving NM | 1,391 | $44K | 20.1% | 16.2% | 9% | D− |
| 3,942 | Robbins NC | 1,305 | $53K | 22.1% | 0.7% | 4% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | 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 St. Elmo, 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 St. Elmo: questions
What is the median household income in St. Elmo?
$45,294 (±$10,078) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Elmo?
27.8%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Elmo?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. Elmo work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Effingham (16%, 18 mi), Vandalia (6%, 14 mi), Altamont (3%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is St. Elmo walkable?
St. Elmo is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. Elmo without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Elmo, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Elmo
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.