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Work & commute in East Moline · Balanced

86% of East Moline’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave East Moline for work: only 14% work in town. The top destinations are Moline (14%), Davenport (14%) and Rock Island (9%). Half commute less than 8 miles.

Work in town
14%
1,064 of 7,816 working residents
Typical commute
8 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
19 min
Less than IL (28 min)
Work from home
5%
Less than IL (16%)
Jobs based here
9,233
Balanced
Work out of state
20%
mostly Iowa

What kind of work town is East Moline?

Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Time on the road

About 19 minutes each way, quicker than most of Illinois

From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.

A year of commuting
146 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

East Moline19 min
Illinois28 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
5%

of East Moline workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10

How East Moline ranks on commute time →

The jobs

East Moline makes things: 44% of its jobs are in goods

9,233 jobs are based in East Moline. Here is what they are, next to the jobs East Moline’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in East MolineJobs East Moline residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms44%26%
Trade, transport & utilities14%19%
Services: health, schools, offices42%55%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less10%15%
$1,251–$3,333 a month20%32%
Over $3,333 a month70%53%

Who does it

29 or younger21%25%
30 to 5457%51%
55 and older22%24%
−4%

Jobs based in East Moline, 2013 → 2023: 9,660 → 9,233. 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.

Next door

17% of East Moline works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Moline (14%). Darker towns draw more of East Moline’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

Day and night

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 6,752 residents head out to work, 1,064 work right here, and 8,169 people come in from elsewhere.

6,752live here, work elsewhere
1,064live and work here
8,169work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night21,000
Workday22,000
21,000live here− 6,800head out to work+ 8,200come in to work= 22,000on a workday

About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.

Job hub or commuter town?
1.18jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

About as many jobs as working residents (1.18 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.

The commute map

14% of working residents work in Moline

A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.

HamptonCoal ValleyColonaSilvis: 201 residents work here (3%)Milan: 195 residents work here (2%)Rock Island: 719 residents work here (9%)Moline: 1,109 residents work here (14%)East MolineChicago: 168 residents work here (2%)Riverdale: 131 residents work here (2%)Bettendorf: 292 residents work here (4%)Davenport: 1,059 residents work here (14%)HamptonMolineSouth MolineBarstowCampbell's IslandJoslin: 566 residents work here (7%)MolineDavenportRock IslandJoslinBettendorfSilvisEast Moline
1
Moline6 mi away
14%1,109
2
East Moline (in town)right here
14%1,064
3
Davenport, IA11.5 mi away
14%1,059
4
Rock Island10.8 mi away
9%719
5
Joslin8.8 mi away
7%566
6
Bettendorf, IA5.6 mi away
4%292
7
Silvis1.9 mi away
3%201
8
Milan10.7 mi away
2%195
9
Chicago141.2 mi away
2%168
10
Riverdale, IA4.1 mi away
2%131
Everywhere elseother towns and states
30%2,312
The top trips

Where East Moline clocks in

Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.

How far

Half of East Moline commutes less than 8 miles

Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

10 mi25 mi50 mi80 miMoline: 14% · 6 miDavenport: 14% · 11.5 miRock Island: 9% · 10.8 miJoslin: 7% · 8.8 miBettendorf: 4% · 5.6 miSilvis: 3% · 1.9 miMilan: 2% · 10.7 miChicago: 2% · 141.2 miRiverdale: 2% · 4.1 miMoline 14%Davenport 14%Rock Island 9%Joslin 7%Bettendorf 4%East Moline
East MolineTop destinations (size = commuters)
65%Under 10 mi5,040 residents
11%10–24 mi823 residents
3%25–50 mi202 residents
22%Over 50 mi1,672 residents

About 22% 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.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Every worker, home to work. The 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 says. A 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 surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
  • Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
Beyond the commute

More of East Moline

East Moline home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from East Moline, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
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Ask neighbors

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.

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