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Jobs & commute in Tower Hill

Most of Tower Hill commutes out: there are 0.1 jobs for every working resident

8% of workers have no commute at all, next to 16% for Illinois as a whole. Tower Hill has 19 jobs, against 188 working residents. Only 1% work in Tower Hill; the top destination outside it is Shelbyville (26%, 9 miles).

Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made

Day and night

Tower Hill by day and by night

On a workday 186 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 17 people come in from elsewhere.

186live here, work elsewhere
2live and work here
17work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night470
Workday300
470live here− 190head out to work+ 17come in to work= 300on a workday

About 300 people are in Tower Hill on a workday afternoon, 36% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.10jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

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 commute map

The towns that employ Tower Hill’s residents

De LandWindsorAssumption: 3 residents work here (2%)Taylor SpringsTower HillMaconMoweaquaPana: 11 residents work here (6%)Shelbyville: 48 residents work here (26%)Mattoon: 7 residents work here (4%)Taylorville: 9 residents work here (5%)Effingham: 5 residents work here (3%)Decatur: 11 residents work here (6%)Chicago: 6 residents work here (3%)Springfield: 9 residents work here (5%)Tower Hill TownshipRose Township: 5 residents work here (3%)Okaw TownshipShelbyvillePanaDecaturTaylorvilleSpringfieldMattoonTower Hill
1
Shelbyville8.7 mi away
26%48
2
Pana7 mi away
6%11
3
Decatur32.4 mi away
6%11
4
Taylorville22.7 mi away
5%9
5
Springfield46 mi away
5%9
6
Mattoon32.5 mi away
4%7
7
Chicago182 mi away
3%6
8
Effingham28.6 mi away
3%5
9
Rose Township4.7 mi away
3%5
10
Assumption10.2 mi away
2%3
Everywhere elseother towns and states
39%74
The top trips

Where Tower Hill clocks in

Lines 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.

The jobs

Mostly services: health care, schools and offices

Jobs based in Tower HillJobs Tower Hill residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms0%25%
Trade, transport & utilities0%21%
Services: health, schools, offices100%54%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less42%22%
$1,251–$3,333 a month32%29%
Over $3,333 a month26%49%

Who does it

29 or younger21%28%
30 to 5442%48%
55 and older37%24%
−53%

Jobs based in Tower Hill, 2013 → 2023: 40 → 19. 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 Tower Hill’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Time on the road

How long Tower Hill spends getting to work: about 18 minutes

A year of commuting
140 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Tower Hill18 min
Illinois28 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
8%

of Tower Hill workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
How Tower Hill gets to work
91%Drive alone
9%Carpool

Share of the 128 commuters (the 8% 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.

How far

Half of Tower Hill commutes less than 26 miles

10 mi25 mi50 mi80 miShelbyville: 26% · 8.7 miPana: 6% · 7 miDecatur: 6% · 32.4 miTaylorville: 5% · 22.7 miSpringfield: 5% · 46 miMattoon: 4% · 32.5 miChicago: 3% · 182 miEffingham: 3% · 28.6 miRose Township: 3% · 4.7 miAssumption: 2% · 10.2 miShelbyville 26%Pana 6%Decatur 6%Taylorville 5%Springfield 5%Tower Hill
Tower HillTop destinations (size = commuters)
39%Under 10 mi73 residents
11%10–24 mi20 residents
27%25–50 mi51 residents
23%Over 50 mi44 residents

About 23% 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 to read these numbers

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.

How these figures and grades are made →

Jobs and commuting in Tower Hill: questions

What is the median household income in Tower Hill?

$53,352 (±$13,824) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.

What is the poverty rate in Tower Hill?

13.0%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).

How long is the commute from Tower Hill?

18 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.

Where do people who live in Tower Hill work?

1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Shelbyville (26%, 9 mi), Pana (6%, 7 mi), Decatur (6%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).

Can you get around Tower Hill without a car?

0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Tower Hill, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Ask neighbors
Beyond the commute

More of Tower Hill

Tower Hill home →

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.