Work & commute · Des Plaines

Work & commute in Des Plaines, IL

Most working residents leave Des Plaines for work: only 9% work in town. The top destinations are Chicago (25%), Elk Grove Village (4%) and Schaumburg (3%). Half commute less than 9 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

2,720 of 29,677 working residents

Typical commute

9 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

28 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

14%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 26,957 Des Plaines residents head out of town to work, 2,720 work right here, and 37,962 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Des Plaines.

26,957live here, work elsewhere

2,720live and work here

37,962work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Des Plaines goes to work

Chicago17.6 mi away

25%7,422

Des Plaines (in town)right here

9%2,720

Elk Grove Village5.1 mi away

4%1,103

Schaumburg9.4 mi away

3%851

Arlington Heights6 mi away

3%823

Mount Prospect2.8 mi away

3%787

Park Ridge3.3 mi away

2%714

Glenview5.2 mi away

2%681

Niles4.7 mi away

2%672

Skokie8.3 mi away

2%665

Everywhere elseother towns and states

45%13,239

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Des Plaines commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

53%

40%

53%Under 10 mi

40%10–24 mi

4%25–50 mi

3%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Des Plaines is balanced between jobs and homes

1.37jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.37 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Des Plaines are

40,682 jobs are based in Des Plaines. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Des Plaines’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Des Plaines

40,682 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)12%

Trade, transport & utilities27%

Services (health, schools, offices…)61%

$1,250 a month or less9%

$1,251–$3,333 a month21%

Over $3,333 a month70%

Jobs Des Plaines residents hold

29,677 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities22%

Services (health, schools, offices…)64%

$1,250 a month or less11%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month66%

+5%

Jobs based in Des Plaines, 2013 → 2023: 38,898 → 40,682. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.