Most of Waverly commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
Measured by household income, Waverly is behind 80% of U.S. towns. 184 jobs are based in Waverly for 627 working residents. Jobs and income earn Waverly C; getting around on foot earns it C−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Waverly apart on work
Waverly is a place people come home to
There are 184 jobs based in Waverly, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Waverly has about 700 people in it, 39% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
29% of Waverly works in Springfield
182 working residents, 29%, have their main job in Springfield, 21 miles away. That’s 5 times as many as work in Waverly itself. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Waverly are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 38 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 627 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Waverly’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Waverly is better than 32% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Waverly’s grade up (7.9%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($55,671, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (4.9%) is left out: Waverly’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, Waverly could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Waverly on a workday afternoon
On a workday 587 residents head out to work, 40 work right here, and 144 people come in from elsewhere.
About 700 people are in Waverly on a workday afternoon, 39% 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.
29% of working residents work in Springfield
Where Waverly clocks in
29% of workers
15% 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 23 minutes each way, quicker than most of Illinois
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Waverly workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 537 commuters (the 7% 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.
The kinds of work in Waverly
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Waverly, 2013 → 2023: 187 → 184. 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 Waverly’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Waverly
About 24% 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.
For most of Waverly, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Waverly is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Waverly 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 578 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). 5.1% of Waverly households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Waverly’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Waverly is 2,018th among 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,016 | Cedar Hill MO | 1,261 | $61K | 15.9% | 3.7% | 2% | C |
| 2,017 | Kissee Mills MO | 1,081 | $67K | 7.2% | 0.0% | 1% | C |
| 2,018 | Waverly IL | 1,142 | $56K | 7.9% | 4.9% | 6% | C |
| 2,019 | Brooklyn MI | 1,450 | $56K | 9.0% | 2.3% | 7% | C |
| 2,020 | Harmony Township IN | 1,219 | $64K | 10.1% | 3.7% | 7% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Waverly, 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 Waverly: questions
What is the median household income in Waverly?
$55,671 (±$7,431) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Waverly?
7.9%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Waverly?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Waverly work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (29%, 21 mi), Jacksonville (15%, 18 mi), Franklin (4%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Waverly walkable?
Waverly is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Waverly without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Waverly, from the people who make the trip.
More of Waverly
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.