Photo: BigCheddah · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs and earnings in Evanston, and the trip to work
Jobs and income earn Evanston C+; getting around on foot earns it B+. More than half work in Evanston; the top destination outside it is Rock Springs (3%, 93 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 17 minutes, next to 19 for Wyoming and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Evanston apart
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Evanston
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Evanston is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #12 of 28 in Wyoming. The poverty rate holds Evanston’s grade up (8.6%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 12% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Evanston could be anywhere from C− to B.
The daily commute in and out of Evanston
On a workday 1,846 residents head out to work, 3,135 work right here, and 2,141 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 (1.06 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.
Where Evanston goes to work
Where Evanston clocks in
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.
The kinds of work in Evanston
5,276 jobs are based in Evanston.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Evanston, 2013 → 2023: 5,833 → 5,276. 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 Evanston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 17 minutes from Evanston
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Evanston workers work from home, vs 9% across Wyoming. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,534 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across Wyoming: 83% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Half of Evanston commutes less than 2 miles
About 24% 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.
Most trips from Evanston start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Evanston is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #20 of 28 in Wyoming. Both inputs place Evanston 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 5,851 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.1% of Evanston households have no vehicle (Wyoming 4.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Evanston’s commuters take a bus or train.
Evanston places 1,823rd of 2,695 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 728 | Jackson WY | 10,720 | $119K | 4.4% | 1.2% | 61% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,778 | Cody WY | 10,377 | $73K | 9.5% | 3.4% | 66% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,821 | Greencastle IN | 9,924 | $56K | 12.2% | 3.0% | 37% | C+ |
| 1,822 | Bangor Township MI | 13,778 | $61K | 14.8% | 3.7% | 11% | C+ |
| 1,823 | Evanston WY | 11,705 | $77K | 8.6% | 3.9% | 63% | C+ |
| 1,824 | Pennsville Township NJ | 12,923 | $75K | 12.2% | 11.6% | 11% | C+ |
| 1,825 | Hamlin NY | 8,601 | $84K | 11.5% | 6.8% | 5% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,967 | Green River WY | 11,450 | $85K | 9.3% | 5.6% | 28% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | 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 Evanston, the top three, the last and three more from Wyoming.
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 Evanston: questions
What is the median household income in Evanston?
$76,516 (±$4,199) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,176 across Wyoming and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Evanston?
8.6%, against 10.5% across Wyoming and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Evanston?
17 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Wyoming and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Evanston work?
63% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rock Springs (3%, 93 mi), Lyman (2%, 35 mi), Kemmerer (1%, 42 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Evanston walkable?
Evanston is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Evanston without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Evanston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Evanston
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.