Walnut has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.5 for each
Walnut has 281 jobs for 531 working residents. The two grades for Walnut are C for jobs and income and B− for walkability. For 4% of workers, the job is at home (Illinois 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Walnut apart on work
Fewer jobs are based in Walnut than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Walnut fell from 492 in 2013 to 281 in 2023, −43%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Commutes from Walnut are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. 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 531 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Walnut’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Walnut is better than 32% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Walnut’s grade up (7.0%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.2%) is left out: Walnut’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Walnut could be anywhere from C− to B−.
What Walnut’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Walnut, 2013 → 2023: 492 → 281. 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 Walnut’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Walnut commutes
About 33% 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 daily trip from Walnut: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Walnut workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 587 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.
Walnut by day and by night
On a workday 498 residents head out to work, 33 work right here, and 248 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Walnut on a workday afternoon, 20% 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.
8% of working residents work in Princeton
Where Walnut clocks in
8% of workers
6% 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.
Walnut is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Walnut is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 5.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 608 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). 5.8% of Walnut households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Walnut’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Walnut is 2,610th among 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,608 | Kaloko HI | 1,432 | $104K | 17.5% | 10.3% | 1% | C |
| 2,609 | Medley FL | 1,075 | $41K | 21.0% | 2.3% | 7% | C |
| 2,610 | Walnut IL | 1,267 | $62K | 7.0% | 3.2% | 6% | C |
| 2,611 | Elwood KS | 1,137 | $62K | 15.4% | 2.4% | 3% | C |
| 2,612 | Burlington Township IN | 1,690 | $87K | 14.7% | 1.5% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Walnut, 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 Walnut: questions
What is the median household income in Walnut?
$61,750 (±$8,451) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Walnut?
7.0%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Walnut?
20 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Walnut work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Princeton (8%, 14 mi), Sterling (6%, 18 mi), Walnut Township (4%, 1 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Walnut walkable?
Walnut is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Walnut without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Walnut, from the people who make the trip.
More of Walnut
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.