Work & commute · Fox Lake

Work & commute in Fox Lake, IL

Most working residents leave Fox Lake for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Chicago (11%), McHenry (3%) and Waukegan (3%). Half commute less than 19 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

286 of 4,874 working residents

Typical commute

19 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

34 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

13%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 4,588 Fox Lake residents head out of town to work, 286 work right here, and 2,739 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Fox Lake.

4,588live here, work elsewhere

286live and work here

2,739work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Fox Lake goes to work

Chicago48.2 mi away

11%551

Fox Lake (in town)right here

6%286

McHenry8.4 mi away

3%143

Waukegan16.5 mi away

3%136

Libertyville14.9 mi away

3%123

Gurnee13.2 mi away

2%115

Grayslake9.8 mi away

2%106

Wauconda10.7 mi away

2%90

Lake Zurich16.9 mi away

2%87

Antioch6.8 mi away

2%86

Everywhere elseother towns and states

65%3,151

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

How far

How far Fox Lake commutes

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

25%

37%

32%

25%Under 10 mi

37%10–24 mi

32%25–50 mi

6%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Fox Lake is a commuter town

0.62jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.62 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Fox Lake are

3,025 jobs are based in Fox Lake. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fox Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Fox Lake

3,025 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities29%

Services (health, schools, offices…)57%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month33%

Over $3,333 a month50%

Jobs Fox Lake residents hold

4,874 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)20%

Trade, transport & utilities22%

Services (health, schools, offices…)58%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month64%

+15%

Jobs based in Fox Lake, 2013 → 2023: 2,632 → 3,025. 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.