Photo: KWayne1 · CC BY-SA 4.0Sterling has lower household incomes than 78% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 6% of workers, where Illinois as a whole has 16%. 15.3% of residents are in poverty, where Illinois as a whole has 11.8%. For jobs and income Sterling is better than 32% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Sterling, in a few figures
The four measures behind Sterling’s grade
Unemployment holds Sterling’s grade up (3.8%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($57,350, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sterling could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Commuting from Sterling: about 18 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sterling workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,695 commuters (the 6% 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 daily flow of workers through Sterling
On a workday 4,359 residents head out to work, 1,812 work right here, and 6,358 people come in from elsewhere.
About 16,000 people are in Sterling on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.32 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.
13% of working residents work in Sterling Township
Where Sterling clocks in
13% of workers
8% 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.
Inside Sterling’s 8,170 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sterling, 2013 → 2023: 7,268 → 8,170. 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 Sterling’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Sterling commutes
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Sterling
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 8.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 7,104 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). 9.2% of Sterling households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Sterling’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,720th of 2,227: where Sterling ranks among U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | La Grange IL | 15,935 | $160K | 4.6% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| 31 | Riverside Township IL | 16,083 | $122K | 4.5% | 1.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,718 | Franklin Township OH | 11,048 | $52K | 36.8% | 4.8% | 3% | C |
| 1,719 | West Perrine FL | 11,162 | $67K | 18.1% | 9.9% | 1% | C |
| 1,720 | Sterling IL | 14,394 | $57K | 15.3% | 3.8% | 29% | C |
| 1,721 | Hanover Township PA | 11,781 | $61K | 19.0% | 5.1% | 15% | C |
| 1,722 | Piney Green NC | 14,078 | $72K | 10.8% | 5.9% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Sterling, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Sterling and its neighbors: 19% work next door
The biggest share goes to Sterling Township (13%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sterling workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sterling | – | C | A− | 18 min | $57,350 |
| Coloma Township | under 2% | D | A− | 17 min | $52,152 |
| Sterling Township | 13% | — | — | 18 min | — |
| Rock Falls | 5% | D | A− | 16 min | $49,600 |
| Hopkins Township | 1% | B− | C | 36 min | $97,075 |
| Galt | under 2% | — | — | 30 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Sterling Township: not graded. Galt: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sterling’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 Sterling: questions
What is the median household income in Sterling?
$57,350 (±$4,755) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sterling?
15.3%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sterling?
18 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sterling work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sterling Township (13%, 1 mi), Dixon (8%, 12 mi), Rock Falls (5%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sterling walkable?
Sterling is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sterling without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sterling, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sterling
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.