Waterman has 0.6 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Employers in Waterman report 358 jobs, against 645 working residents. Jobs and income earn Waterman B+; getting around on foot earns it C. Household incomes here are higher than in 77% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Waterman, in brief
Waterman workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 39 minutes each way, against 28 across Illinois. Over a year that’s about 299 hours of commuting, 84 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Waterman makes and builds things
39% of the jobs based in Waterman are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Waterman residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 23%. 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; with 645 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Waterman’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Waterman is better than 73% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Waterman’s grade up (5.0%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 39% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (4.1%) is left out: Waterman’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, Waterman could be anywhere from B to A−.
About 39 minutes to work from Waterman
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Waterman workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 668 commuters (the 10% 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.
A place that makes things: 39% of Waterman’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Waterman, 2013 → 2023: 411 → 358. 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 Waterman’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Waterman quiets down on a workday
On a workday 617 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 330 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Waterman on a workday afternoon, 18% 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.
12% of working residents work in DeKalb
Where Waterman clocks in
12% of workers
6% of workers
5% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Waterman
About 16% 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.
In Waterman, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Waterman is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 5.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 739 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). 2.1% of Waterman households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Waterman’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Waterman is 991st among 6,161 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Bannockburn IL | 1,308 | $214K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 989 | Laton CA | 1,453 | $78K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 3% | B+ |
| 990 | St. George MO | 1,458 | $68K | 7.5% | 1.4% | 1% | B+ |
| 991 | Waterman IL | 1,640 | $100K | 5.0% | 4.1% | 4% | B+ |
| 992 | Keene Township MI | 1,749 | $96K | 7.7% | 3.3% | 4% | B+ |
| 993 | Trenton WI | 1,944 | $110K | 4.2% | 2.5% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Waterman, 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 Waterman: questions
What is the median household income in Waterman?
$100,139 (±$9,737) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Waterman?
5.0%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Waterman?
39 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Waterman work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are DeKalb (12%, 11 mi), Shabbona (6%, 6 mi), Aurora (5%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Waterman walkable?
Waterman is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Waterman without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Waterman, from the people who make the trip.
More of Waterman
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.