Photo: Dual Freq · CC BY 2.5Tuscola has lower unemployment (1.1%) than 94% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Tuscola; the top destination outside it is Champaign (11%, 22 miles). Jobs and income earn Tuscola B+; getting around on foot earns it A−. Home is the office for 4% of workers; Illinois has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Tuscola stands out on work
Commutes from Tuscola are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Tuscola workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Tuscola’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Tuscola is Champaign, 22 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (223) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Many jobs in Tuscola pay little
27% of the jobs based in Tuscola pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 30% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
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.
What’s behind Tuscola’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Tuscola is better than 72% of U.S. towns, #325 of 768 in Illinois. Unemployment holds Tuscola’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 43% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Tuscola could be anywhere from B− to A.
About 17 minutes to work from Tuscola
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tuscola workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,423 commuters (the 3% 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.
Tuscola’s commute, mile by mile
About 19% 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.
The 1,538 jobs based in Tuscola
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tuscola, 2013 → 2023: 1,536 → 1,538. 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 Tuscola’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Tuscola
On a workday 1,603 residents head out to work, 339 work right here, and 1,199 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 (0.79 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.
Where Tuscola’s working residents head each day
Where Tuscola clocks in
11% of workers
8% of workers
7% 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.
Tuscola is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Tuscola is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #263 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Tuscola near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,510 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.4% of Tuscola households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Tuscola’s commuters take a bus or train.
Tuscola is 1,134th of 3,798 U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,300 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | South Barrington IL | 5,071 | $222K | 1.0% | 2.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Deer Park IL | 3,647 | $174K | 1.3% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,132 | Forest Hills PA | 6,116 | $90K | 4.3% | 7.5% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,133 | Moro Township IL | 3,492 | $100K | 4.0% | 5.6% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,134 | Tuscola IL | 4,668 | $78K | 7.1% | 1.1% | 17% | B+ |
| 1,135 | Ray Township IN | 4,432 | $90K | 9.1% | 1.1% | 13% | B+ |
| 1,136 | Ferdinand Township IN | 3,671 | $83K | 7.0% | 0.3% | 24% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,798 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Tuscola, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
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 Tuscola: questions
What is the median household income in Tuscola?
$78,179 (±$11,873) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tuscola?
7.1%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tuscola?
17 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tuscola work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Champaign (11%, 22 mi), Urbana (8%, 22 mi), Arcola (7%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tuscola walkable?
Tuscola is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tuscola 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 Tuscola, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tuscola
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.