Photo: Daniel Schwen · CC BY-SA 4.036% of Urbana’s residents are college students
Jobs & income C+: better than 40% of U.S. towns on family income, poverty and job access · #571 of 768 in Illinois.
Walkability A+: among the most walkable U.S. towns · #12 of 768 in Illinois.
Family incomes here are lower than in 58% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 14 minutes each way (Illinois 28, U.S. 26). About one in five work in Urbana; the top destination outside it is Champaign (38%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Urbana
Commutes from Urbana are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Urbana and Champaign trade workers both ways
Champaign is the top workplace for Urbana residents (38%) and also where the most people who work in Urbana come from (21% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Urbana is where the jobs are
Urbana has 20,968 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Most Urbana residents work close to home
64% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
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 Urbana’s Jobs & income grade
On family income, poverty and job access, Urbana is better than 40% of U.S. towns, #571 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Urbana’s grade up (ahead of 72% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (20.0%, U.S. 11.9%).
36% of Urbana’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (27% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 20.0%, against 28.0% for all residents. Unemployment (4.7%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($86,209), since student households pull the household median down ($45,346).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Urbana could be anywhere from C to B−.
About 14 minutes each way, quicker than most of Illinois
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Urbana workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 15,477 commuters (the 19% who work from home are left out). Across Illinois: 78% drive alone, 7% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Where Urbana’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Urbana clocks in
38% of workers
4% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Urbana fills up on a workday
On a workday 9,889 residents head out to work, 2,493 work right here, and 18,475 people come in from elsewhere.
About 48,000 people are in Urbana on a workday afternoon, 22% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Half of Urbana commutes less than 4 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 26% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
20,968 jobs are based in Urbana. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Urbana’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Urbana, 2013 → 2023: 17,635 → 20,968. 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.
Urbana is among the most walkable U.S. towns
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Urbana is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #12 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Urbana 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 19,010 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, 89% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 19.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 98% 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). 21.5% of Urbana households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 9% of Urbana’s commuters take a bus or train.
Urbana is 856th of 1,086 U.S. towns of 28,000 to 54,000 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Urbana, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | West Deerfield Township IL | 32,111 | $205K | 2.7% | 2.7% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | New Lenox IL | 28,893 | $141K | 1.5% | 2.9% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Bartlett IL | 40,855 | $133K | 4.2% | 2.6% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 854 | Bell Gardens CA | 37,367 | $62K | 20.0% | 5.9% | 5% | C+ |
| 855 | Cathedral City CA | 52,375 | $74K | 13.1% | 6.0% | 10% | C+ |
| 856 | Urbana IL | 39,719 | $45K | 28.0% | 4.7% | 20% | C+ |
| 857 | Cunningham Township IL | 39,719 | $45K | 28.0% | 4.7% | 20% | C+ |
| 858 | West New York NJ | 53,192 | $72K | 19.4% | 8.4% | 8% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,086 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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.
38% of Urbana works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Champaign (38%). Darker towns draw more of Urbana’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Urbana workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urbana | – | C+ | A+ | 14 min | $45,346 |
| Cunningham Township | under 2% | C+ | A+ | 14 min | $45,346 |
| Urbana Township | under 2% | B− | A− | 16 min | $62,905 |
| Somer Township | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
| Champaign | 38% | B | A+ | 15 min | $56,118 |
| Champaign City Township | under 2% | B | A+ | 15 min | $56,118 |
Same-state neighbors only. Somer Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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.
- Students. 36% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Urbana: questions
What is the median household income in Urbana?
$45,346 (±$5,415) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Urbana?
28.0% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 20.0%. Illinois: 11.8%.
How long is the commute from Urbana?
14 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Urbana work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Champaign (38%, 4 mi), Chicago (4%, 122 mi), Bloomington (2%, 48 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Urbana walkable?
Urbana is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.3 out of 20, and 29% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Urbana without a car?
9% of commuters take transit and 22% of households have no car. 89% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Urbana, from the people who make the trip.
More of Urbana
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.