Willow Lake has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
The trip to work takes 21 minutes on average, next to 28 for Illinois and 26 for the U.S. Willow Lake has 101 jobs, against 505 working residents. Hardly any work in Willow Lake itself; outside it, Freeport draws the most (34%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Willow Lake: the figures worth knowing
Willow Lake and Freeport trade workers both ways
Freeport is the top workplace for Willow Lake residents (34%) and also where the most people who work in Willow Lake come from (48% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Willow Lake than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Willow Lake fell from 533 in 2013 to 101 in 2023, −81%. 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 ↓
Willow Lake is a place people come home to
There are 101 jobs based in Willow Lake, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Willow Lake has about 360 people in it, 53% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 505 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Willow Lake goes to work
Where Willow Lake clocks in
34% of workers
9% of workers
3% 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.
What Willow Lake’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Willow Lake, 2013 → 2023: 533 → 101. 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 Willow Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Willow Lake on a workday afternoon
On a workday 505 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 101 people come in from elsewhere.
About 360 people are in Willow Lake on a workday afternoon, 53% 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.
About 21 minutes each way, quicker than most of Illinois
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Willow Lake workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 382 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.
Where in the region Willow Lake works
About 25% 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 Willow Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Willow Lake?
$100,568 (±$20,600) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Willow Lake?
6.4%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Willow Lake?
21 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Willow Lake work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Freeport (34%, 3 mi), Rockford (9%, 30 mi), Chicago (3%, 106 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Willow Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Willow Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Willow Lake
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.