With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Winnebago works elsewhere
Only 7% work in Winnebago; the top destination outside it is Rockford (41%, 9 miles). Employers in Winnebago report 761 jobs; 1,437 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Winnebago are A− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Winnebago apart
41% of Winnebago works in Rockford
591 working residents, 41%, have their main job in Rockford, 8.7 miles away. That’s 6 times as many as work in Winnebago itself. The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Winnebago
61% of Winnebago residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 41% of the jobs based in Winnebago pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 93% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Winnebago pay little
28% of the jobs based in Winnebago pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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.
How Winnebago earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Winnebago is better than 77% of U.S. towns, #275 of 768 in Illinois. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Winnebago’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Winnebago could be anywhere from B− to A.
Commuting out of Winnebago: the destinations
Where Winnebago clocks in
41% 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 Winnebago’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Winnebago, 2013 → 2023: 645 → 761. 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 Winnebago’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Winnebago, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,341 residents head out to work, 96 work right here, and 665 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,200 people are in Winnebago on a workday afternoon, 23% 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.
Time on the road from Winnebago: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Winnebago workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,255 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Winnebago
About 23% 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.
The commute in Winnebago is mostly behind the wheel
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% 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 1,397 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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 Winnebago households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Winnebago’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,882 U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,900, Winnebago comes 981st on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Deer Park IL | 3,647 | $174K | 1.3% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 979 | Green Garden Township IL | 3,851 | $134K | 3.0% | 10.5% | 5% | A− |
| 980 | Colden NY | 3,172 | $98K | 10.0% | 0.8% | 5% | A− |
| 981 | Winnebago IL | 2,903 | $93K | 6.6% | 3.4% | 7% | A− |
| 982 | Youngwood PA | 2,878 | $71K | 9.7% | 0.0% | 6% | A− |
| 983 | Pacific WI | 2,769 | $88K | 3.2% | 2.2% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,882 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Winnebago, 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 Winnebago: questions
What is the median household income in Winnebago?
$92,614 (±$12,601) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Winnebago?
6.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Winnebago?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Winnebago work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rockford (41%, 9 mi), Loves Park (3%, 13 mi), Chicago (3%, 85 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Winnebago walkable?
Winnebago is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Winnebago without a car?
0% 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 Winnebago, from the people who make the trip.
More of Winnebago
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.