Photo: IvoShandor · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Stockton earn less than those in 91% of U.S. towns
15.6% of residents are in poverty; Illinois has 11.8%. Jobs and income earn Stockton D; getting around on foot earns it B+. Home is the office for 6% of workers (Illinois 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Stockton: the figures worth knowing
Fewer jobs are based in Stockton than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Stockton fell from 910 in 2013 to 539 in 2023, −41%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Stockton 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 ↓
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 731 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Stockton: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Stockton is better than 9% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Stockton’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($46,934, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (4.6%) is left out: Stockton’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, Stockton could be anywhere from D− to C−.
What work there is in Stockton: 539 jobs
539 jobs are based in Stockton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Stockton, 2013 → 2023: 910 → 539. 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 Stockton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Stockton: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Stockton workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 718 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.
Who works in Stockton, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 612 residents head out to work, 119 work right here, and 420 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Stockton on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.74 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
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 Freeport
Where Stockton clocks in
13% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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 Stockton’s workers travel
About 24% 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.
For most of Stockton, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Stockton is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 760 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). 11.6% of Stockton households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Stockton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300, Stockton ranks 4,923rd of 5,760 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Bannockburn IL | 1,308 | $214K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Prestbury IL | 2,045 | $165K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,921 | Sargent TX | 1,422 | $60K | 18.6% | 4.7% | 1% | D |
| 4,922 | Gila Bend AZ | 1,816 | $52K | 12.2% | 0.0% | 22% | D |
| 4,923 | Stockton IL | 1,669 | $47K | 15.6% | 4.6% | 16% | D |
| 4,924 | Weldon NC | 1,374 | $48K | 17.5% | 6.5% | 6% | D |
| 4,925 | Wolfe City TX | 1,503 | $52K | 22.9% | 5.2% | 5% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Stockton, 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 Stockton: questions
What is the median household income in Stockton?
$46,934 (±$9,356) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Stockton?
15.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Stockton?
20 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Stockton work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Freeport (13%, 19 mi), Galena (4%, 22 mi), Kent Township (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Stockton walkable?
Stockton is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Stockton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Stockton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Stockton
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.