Photo: David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA · CC BY 2.0Most of Wataga commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
Home is the office for 1% of workers, next to 16% for Illinois as a whole. Employers in Wataga report 109 jobs; 334 of its residents have a job. Only 2% work in Wataga itself; outside it, Galesburg draws the most (30%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Wataga: the gist
Wataga and Galesburg trade workers both ways
Galesburg is the top workplace for Wataga residents (30%) and also where the most people who work in Wataga come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Wataga workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Wataga are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 46 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 334 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The towns that employ Wataga’s residents
Where Wataga clocks in
30% of workers
2% 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.
About 22 minutes each way, quicker than most of Illinois
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wataga workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 381 commuters (the 1% 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.
Wataga by day and by night
On a workday 328 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 103 people come in from elsewhere.
About 490 people are in Wataga on a workday afternoon, 32% 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.
74% of the jobs in Wataga pay over $3,333 a month
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wataga, 2013 → 2023: 94 → 109. 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 Wataga’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Wataga works
About 29% 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.
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 Wataga: questions
What is the median household income in Wataga?
$62,917 (±$16,180) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wataga?
9.3%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wataga?
22 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wataga work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Galesburg (30%, 7 mi), Peoria (10%, 39 mi), Chicago (2%, 145 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Wataga without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wataga, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wataga
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.