Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Most of Tonica commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Commuters spend 24 minutes getting to work on average; Illinois averages 28, the U.S. 26. There are 169 jobs in Tonica; 333 of its residents have a job. Only 2% work in Tonica; the top destination outside it is Streator (10%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Tonica in brief
Near or far: the trip to work from Tonica
About 39% 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.
How a workday changes Tonica
On a workday 327 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 163 people come in from elsewhere.
About 570 people are in Tonica on a workday afternoon, 22% 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.
The towns that employ Tonica’s residents
Where Tonica clocks in
10% of workers
6% 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.
40% of the jobs in Tonica make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tonica, 2013 → 2023: 172 → 169. 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 Tonica’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes each way, quicker than most of Illinois
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tonica workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 276 commuters (the 13% 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.
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 Tonica: questions
What is the median household income in Tonica?
$90,000 (±$15,570) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tonica?
8.9%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tonica?
24 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tonica work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Streator (10%, 14 mi), Ottawa (6%, 16 mi), Peru (5%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Tonica without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tonica, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tonica
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.