Photo: User:Visviva · CC BY-SA 4.0Work means Springfield for about two in three of Woodside Township’s working residents
The two grades for Woodside Township are B for jobs and income and A for walkability. A typical one-way commute lasts 18 minutes; Illinois averages 28, the U.S. 26. Measured by household income, Woodside Township is behind 53% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Woodside Township: the gist
More than half of Woodside Township works in Springfield
3,202 working residents, 63%, have their main job in Springfield, 4.3 miles away across the town line. That’s 13 times as many as work in Woodside Township itself. The commute map ↓
Jobs in Woodside Township have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Woodside Township went from 3,397 in 2013 to 7,545 in 2023, +122%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Woodside Township are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Most Woodside Township residents work close to home
70% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Woodside Township gains people on a workday
About 14,000 people are in Woodside Township on a workday afternoon, 22% more than the 11,000 who live here: 7,300 come in to work and 4,800 head out. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Woodside Township
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Woodside Township is better than 61% of U.S. towns, #412 of 768 in Illinois. Job access by car holds Woodside Township’s grade up (ahead of 71% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.6%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Woodside Township could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Commuting out of Woodside Township: the destinations
Where Woodside Township clocks in
63% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
7,545 jobs are based in Woodside Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Woodside Township, 2013 → 2023: 3,397 → 7,545. 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 Woodside Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Woodside Township: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Woodside Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,047 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Woodside Township
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 daily commute in and out of Woodside Township
On a workday 4,843 residents head out to work, 264 work right here, and 7,281 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Woodside Township on a workday afternoon, 22% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.48 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Good to walk, short on transit: Woodside Township
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Woodside Township is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #131 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Woodside Township 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 5,780 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 87% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 43% 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). 4.8% of Woodside Township households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Woodside Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Woodside Township is 1,259th of 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,257 | Moody AL | 13,559 | $87K | 7.7% | 5.7% | 5% | B |
| 1,258 | Clayton NJ | 9,041 | $90K | 8.0% | 7.2% | 4% | B |
| 1,259 | Woodside Township IL | 11,300 | $73K | 11.6% | 3.0% | 5% | B |
| 1,260 | Sullivan NY | 14,623 | $81K | 8.2% | 3.9% | 10% | B |
| 1,261 | Carrollton VA | 8,436 | $111K | 6.8% | 9.7% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Woodside Township, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Woodside Township and its neighbors: 63% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Woodside Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodside Township | – | B | A | 18 min | $73,007 |
| Capital Township | under 1% | C | A | 17 min | $65,902 |
| Springfield | 63% | C | A | 17 min | $66,064 |
| Jerome | under 1% | B+ | A+ | 20 min | $65,189 |
| Southern View | under 1% | C+ | A+ | 15 min | $57,270 |
| Leland Grove | under 1% | A+ | B | 16 min | $130,833 |
| Curran Township | under 1% | A | D | 17 min | $102,857 |
| Chatham | under 1% | A− | B+ | 23 min | $106,773 |
| Rochester Township | under 1% | A | C− | 22 min | $114,551 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Springfield. Darker towns draw more of Woodside Township’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 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 Woodside Township: questions
What is the median household income in Woodside Township?
$73,007 (±$4,632) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Woodside Township?
11.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Woodside Township?
18 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Woodside Township work?
5% work in town.
Is Woodside Township walkable?
Woodside Township is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.1 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Woodside Township without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 43% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Woodside Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Woodside Township
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.