Work & commute · Looking Glass

Work & commute in Looking Glass, IL

Most working residents leave Looking Glass for work: only 10% work in town. The top destinations are St. Louis (7%), Belleville (6%) and New Baden (5%). Half commute less than 19 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

10%

285 of 2,776 working residents

Typical commute

19 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

26 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

12%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 2,491 Looking Glass residents head out of town to work, 285 work right here, and 872 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Looking Glass.

2,491live here, work elsewhere

285live and work here

872work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Looking Glass goes to work

St. Louis, MO32.9 mi away

7%189

Belleville18 mi away

6%166

New Baden3.4 mi away

5%147

Breese10.4 mi away

4%115

Highland18.3 mi away

3%84

O'Fallon15.3 mi away

3%84

Trenton7.2 mi away

3%78

Sugar Creek7.3 mi away

3%78

Mascoutah7.7 mi away

2%65

Damiansville2.4 mi away

2%62

Everywhere elseother towns and states

62%1,708

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

How far

How far Looking Glass commutes

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

28%

32%

25%

15%

28%Under 10 mi

32%10–24 mi

25%25–50 mi

15%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Looking Glass is a commuter town

0.42jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Looking Glass are

1,157 jobs are based in Looking Glass. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Looking Glass’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Looking Glass

1,157 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)24%

Trade, transport & utilities23%

Services (health, schools, offices…)53%

$1,250 a month or less23%

$1,251–$3,333 a month28%

Over $3,333 a month48%

Jobs Looking Glass residents hold

2,776 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)22%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)58%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month62%

+22%

Jobs based in Looking Glass, 2013 → 2023: 950 → 1,157. 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.