Photo: Crosbiesmith · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Willow Springs works elsewhere
Employers in Willow Springs report 1,134 jobs, against 2,654 working residents. Willow Springs grades A for jobs and income and B for walkability. Measured by household income, Willow Springs is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Willow Springs: the gist
The four measures behind Willow Springs’ grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Willow Springs is better than 89% of U.S. towns, #138 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Willow Springs’ grade up (among the top U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (4.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Willow Springs could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
29% of working residents work in Chicago
Where Willow Springs clocks in
29% 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.
Who works in Willow Springs, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 2,616 residents head out to work, 38 work right here, and 1,096 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,300 people are in Willow Springs on a workday afternoon, 26% 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 2024, primary jobs.
The kinds of work in Willow Springs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Willow Springs, 2014 → 2024: 1,039 → 1,134. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Willow Springs’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Willow Springs: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Willow Springs workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,651 commuters (the 13% 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.
Miles to work from Willow Springs
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Willow Springs is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Willow Springs is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns, #486 of 768 in Illinois. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 10.8% across Illinois.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,058 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 45% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 68% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.2% of Willow Springs households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Willow Springs’ commuters take a bus or train.
434th of 3,375: where Willow Springs ranks among U.S. towns of 4,100 to 7,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | South Barrington IL | 5,071 | $222K | 1.0% | 2.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Northfield IL | 5,632 | $162K | 3.2% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | Grandwood Park IL | 5,262 | $127K | 2.8% | 2.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 432 | Saline Township IL | 6,859 | $106K | 3.8% | 2.7% | 13% | A |
| 433 | Boonton Township NJ | 4,432 | $192K | 1.1% | 7.3% | 3% | A |
| 434 | Willow Springs IL | 5,788 | $104K | 4.1% | 4.6% | 1% | A |
| 435 | Stacy MN | 4,367 | $98K | 5.2% | 2.9% | 4% | A |
| 436 | Lebanon CT | 7,142 | $109K | 4.1% | 2.7% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,375 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 3% | 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 Willow Springs, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Work in the towns next to Willow Springs
The biggest share goes to Burr Ridge (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Willow Springs workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willow Springs | – | A | B | 28 min | $103,583 |
| Burr Ridge | 3% | A+ | A | 29 min | $156,829 |
| Hodgkins | 2% | B− | B | 17 min | $62,417 |
| Downers Grove Township | under 2% | A | A | 28 min | $117,335 |
| Lemont Township | under 2% | A | A | 35 min | $120,984 |
| Lemont | under 2% | A | A | 35 min | $123,370 |
| Justice | under 2% | C | A | 32 min | $57,170 |
| Lyons Township | under 2% | B+ | A+ | 30 min | $92,619 |
| Palos Township | under 2% | B+ | A | 33 min | $86,101 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Willow Springs’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Springs: questions
What is the median household income in Willow Springs?
$103,583 (±$15,367) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Willow Springs?
4.1%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Willow Springs?
28 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Willow Springs work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (29%, 12 mi), Burr Ridge (3%, 2 mi), Hodgkins (2%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Willow Springs walkable?
Willow Springs is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 10.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Willow Springs without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Willow Springs, from the people who make the trip.
More of Willow Springs
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.