Photo: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.0Fewer people are out of work in Wood River (2.9%) than in 71% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 8% of workers (Illinois 16%). Wood River grades B for jobs and income and B for walkability. Only 8% stay in Wood River for work; outside it, Edwardsville is the main destination (9%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Wood River
Wood River trades workers with the towns around it
Wood River has about as many jobs (4,055) as working residents (4,728), but they are mostly different people: 4,356 residents leave for work each day while 3,683 people come in. Only 9% of the jobs in Wood River are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Wood River
56% of Wood River residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 37% of the jobs based in Wood River pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 92% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
The figures behind Wood River’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wood River is better than 57% of U.S. towns, #452 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Wood River’s grade up (ahead of 84% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($62,703, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wood River could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
How many people are in Wood River by day
On a workday 4,356 residents head out to work, 372 work right here, and 3,683 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.86 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Inside Wood River’s 4,055 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wood River, 2014 → 2024: 3,376 → 4,055. 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 Wood River’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that employ Wood River’s residents
Where Wood River clocks in
9% of workers
9% of workers
7% 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.
Getting to work from Wood River takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wood River workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,744 commuters (the 8% 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.
How far it is to work from Wood River
About 15% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Wood River, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wood River is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns, #460 of 768 in Illinois. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% 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 5,135 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). 7.4% of Wood River households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Wood River’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Wood River is 1,526th of 2,878 U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,524 | Connerton FL | 7,650 | $124K | 5.0% | 8.7% | 1% | B |
| 1,525 | Lyons IL | 10,433 | $71K | 14.0% | 4.6% | 3% | B |
| 1,526 | Wood River IL | 10,224 | $63K | 13.9% | 2.9% | 8% | B |
| 1,527 | Pleasant Hill IA | 11,239 | $91K | 8.9% | 8.2% | 4% | B |
| 1,528 | McPherson KS | 13,918 | $78K | 13.5% | 1.9% | 41% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Wood River, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Wood River and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to East Alton (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wood River workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wood River | – | B | B | 24 min | $62,703 |
| Rosewood Heights | under 3% | A− | B | 28 min | $72,102 |
| East Alton | 4% | C+ | B+ | 22 min | $48,815 |
| Roxana | 2% | B− | C | 19 min | $64,516 |
| Bethalto | 3% | B− | B | 23 min | $64,775 |
| Hartford | under 3% | C | C+ | 24 min | $41,092 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Wood River’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 Wood River: questions
What is the median household income in Wood River?
$62,703 (±$7,410) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wood River?
13.9%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wood River?
24 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wood River work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Edwardsville (9%, 7 mi), Alton (9%, 5 mi), St. Louis (7%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Wood River walkable?
Wood River is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wood River without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wood River, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wood River
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.