Households in Tower Lakes earn more than those in 95% of U.S. towns
27% of workers have no commute at all; Illinois has 16%. Below the poverty line: 2.0% of residents, against 11.8% across Illinois. For jobs and income Tower Lakes is among the top U.S. towns (A+); for walkability it is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Tower Lakes, in brief
Tower Lakes’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Tower Lakes is Chicago, 36 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (86) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Tower Lakes is a place people come home to
There are 140 jobs based in Tower Lakes, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Tower Lakes has about 800 people in it, 33% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Home offices are common in Tower Lakes
27% of Tower Lakes 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; with 539 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Tower Lakes’ grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Tower Lakes is among the top U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Tower Lakes’ grade. It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (2.8%) is left out: Tower Lakes’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Tower Lakes stays A+.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Tower Lakes
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.
Tower Lakes on a workday afternoon
On a workday 537 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 138 people come in from elsewhere.
About 800 people are in Tower Lakes on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer than live here.
0.26 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.
The daily trip from Tower Lakes: about 35 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tower Lakes workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 380 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.
Out of Tower Lakes to work: where people go
Where Tower Lakes clocks in
16% of workers
5% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Tower Lakes
140 jobs are based in Tower Lakes.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tower Lakes, 2013 → 2023: 26 → 140. 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 Lakes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Tower Lakes is a driving town
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 5.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 518 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 0.0% of Tower Lakes households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 6% of Tower Lakes’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600, Tower Lakes ranks 23rd of 4,312 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 22 | Norris Canyon CA | 1,014 | $250K | 1.8% | 0.7% | 1% | A+ |
| 23 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| 24 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 25 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Bannockburn IL | 1,308 | $214K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Port Barrington IL | 1,584 | $150K | 2.7% | 2.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Tower Lakes, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Tower Lakes and its neighbors
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Tower Lakes workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tower Lakes | – | A+ | B | 35 min | $154,167 |
| Lake Barrington | under 2% | A− | B+ | 33 min | $141,958 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Tower Lakes’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 Tower Lakes: questions
What is the median household income in Tower Lakes?
$154,167 (±$31,589) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tower Lakes?
2.0%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tower Lakes?
35 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 27% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tower Lakes work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (16%, 36 mi), Barrington (5%, 5 mi), Schaumburg (4%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tower Lakes walkable?
Tower Lakes is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tower Lakes without a car?
6% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tower Lakes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tower Lakes
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.