Photo: vx700 · CC BY 3.0Summit’s household incomes are lower than in 71% of U.S. towns
Summit grades B− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. Poverty touches 11.2% of residents, next to 11.8% for Illinois as a whole. For 5% of workers, the job is at home, next to 16% for Illinois as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Summit at work: what stands out
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Summit
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Summit is better than 52% of U.S. towns, #494 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Summit’s grade up (among the top U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($61,863, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Summit could be anywhere from C to A−.
28% of working residents work in Chicago
Where Summit clocks in
28% of workers
2% 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.
Who commutes out of Summit, and who commutes in
On a workday 4,027 residents head out to work, 263 work right here, and 3,247 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.82 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.
The kinds of work in Summit
3,510 jobs are based in Summit.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Summit, 2013 → 2023: 3,592 → 3,510. 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 Summit’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Summit spends getting to work: 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 Summit workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,410 commuters (the 5% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Summit
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.
Summit is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,651 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 65% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 16.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 97% 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). 8.8% of Summit households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 9% of Summit’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000, Summit ranks 1,469th of 2,507 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,467 | Whitehouse TX | 9,970 | $99K | 10.9% | 6.4% | 5% | B− |
| 1,468 | Sonoma CA | 10,537 | $99K | 10.4% | 5.7% | 21% | B− |
| 1,469 | Summit IL | 10,753 | $62K | 11.2% | 5.5% | 6% | B− |
| 1,470 | Hood River OR | 8,315 | $86K | 10.8% | 3.3% | 36% | B− |
| 1,471 | Van Buren Township IN | 12,634 | $74K | 8.7% | 4.8% | 8% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Summit, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
The towns next door employ 31% of Summit
The biggest share goes to Chicago (28%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Summit workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summit | – | B− | A+ | 29 min | $61,863 |
| Bedford Park | 3% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| McCook | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Lyons Township | under 2% | B+ | A+ | 30 min | $92,619 |
| Chicago | 28% | B− | A+ | 33 min | $77,902 |
| Lyons | under 2% | B | A+ | 28 min | $70,993 |
| Stickney Township | under 2% | B | A | 30 min | $78,454 |
| Forest View | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Bedford Park and McCook: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Forest View: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Summit’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 Summit: questions
What is the median household income in Summit?
$61,863 (±$8,950) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Summit?
11.2%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Summit?
29 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Summit work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (28%, 7 mi), Bedford Park (3%, 3 mi), Hodgkins (2%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Summit walkable?
Summit is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 15.9 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Summit without a car?
9% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 65% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Summit, from the people who make the trip.
More of Summit
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.