Ephraim Smith House · Photo: IvoShandor · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Sugar Grove commutes out: there are 0.6 jobs for every working resident
Measured by household income, Sugar Grove is ahead of 89% of U.S. towns. 2,731 jobs are based in Sugar Grove for 4,893 working residents. Sugar Grove grades A− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Sugar Grove: the figures worth knowing
Sugar Grove’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Sugar Grove is Chicago, 39 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (641) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Home offices are common in Sugar Grove
27% of Sugar Grove workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. 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.
Income, poverty and work: Sugar Grove’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sugar Grove is better than 82% of U.S. towns, #221 of 768 in Illinois. Household income holds Sugar Grove’s grade up ($121,207, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.3%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sugar Grove could be anywhere from B to A+.
The commute from Sugar Grove, by distance
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.
Getting to work from Sugar Grove takes about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sugar Grove workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,071 commuters (the 27% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Sugar Grove
On a workday 4,694 residents head out to work, 199 work right here, and 2,532 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,200 people are in Sugar Grove 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 2023, primary jobs.
13% of working residents work in Chicago
Where Sugar Grove clocks in
13% of workers
11% 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.
What Sugar Grove’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sugar Grove, 2013 → 2023: 2,669 → 2,731. 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 Sugar Grove’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Sugar Grove start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sugar Grove is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns, #613 of 768 in Illinois. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 10.8% across Illinois.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,220 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 49% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.6% of Sugar Grove households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Sugar Grove’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Sugar Grove ranks: 727th of 2,806 U.S. towns of 6,600 to 12,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Winnetka IL | 12,518 | $250K | 1.6% | 3.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 725 | Dent OH | 11,973 | $87K | 4.3% | 3.9% | 3% | A− |
| 726 | Savoy IL | 9,113 | $92K | 7.9% | 1.4% | 3% | A− |
| 727 | Sugar Grove IL | 9,381 | $121K | 4.7% | 5.3% | 4% | A− |
| 728 | Ambler PA | 6,840 | $77K | 6.0% | 3.4% | 5% | A− |
| 729 | Sunnyvale TX | 9,008 | $170K | 6.0% | 7.0% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,806 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Sugar Grove, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
The towns next door employ 11% of Sugar Grove
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sugar Grove workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar Grove | – | A− | C+ | 29 min | $121,207 |
| Prestbury | under 2% | A+ | B | 54 min | $165,486 |
| Big Rock | under 2% | A+ | C− | 18 min | $162,854 |
| Aurora | 11% | B+ | A | 27 min | $93,633 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Aurora. Darker towns draw more of Sugar Grove’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 Sugar Grove: questions
What is the median household income in Sugar Grove?
$121,207 (±$14,261) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sugar Grove?
4.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sugar Grove?
29 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 27% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sugar Grove work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (13%, 39 mi), Aurora (11%, 8 mi), Naperville (5%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sugar Grove walkable?
Sugar Grove is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sugar Grove without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sugar Grove, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sugar Grove
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.