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Work & commute in Plymouth · A commuter town

100% of Plymouth’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Plymouth for work: only 0% work in town. The top destinations are Carthage (17%), Macomb (6%) and Augusta (5%). Half commute less than 23 miles.

Work in town
0%
0 of 147 working residents
Typical commute
23 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
34 min
More than IL (28 min)
Work from home
8%
Less than IL (16%)
Jobs based here
19
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Plymouth?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

17% of working residents work in Carthage

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

Bowen: 7 residents work here (5%)PlymouthAugusta: 8 residents work here (5%)ClaytonMount Sterling: 8 residents work here (5%)Camp PointPontoosucVirdenCarthage: 25 residents work here (17%)Macomb: 9 residents work here (6%)Quincy: 5 residents work here (3%)Chicago: 5 residents work here (3%)Peoria: 5 residents work here (3%)Keokuk: 4 residents work here (3%)BurlingtonColomaBuena VistaCarthage: 7 residents work here (5%)CarthageMacombAugustaMount SterlingBowenCarthagePlymouth
1
Carthage14 mi away
17%25
2
Macomb17.4 mi away
6%9
3
Augusta4.6 mi away
5%8
4
Mount Sterling22.6 mi away
5%8
5
Bowen8.8 mi away
5%7
6
Carthage12.4 mi away
5%7
7
Quincy34.8 mi away
3%5
8
Chicago199.3 mi away
3%5
9
Peoria75.3 mi away
3%5
10
Keokuk, IA26.9 mi away
3%4
Everywhere elseother towns and states
44%64
The top trips

Where Plymouth clocks in

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

Time on the road

About 34 minutes each way, longer than most of Illinois

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

A year of commuting
261 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.9 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Plymouth34 min
Illinois28 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
8%

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

About 1 in 10
Day and night

Plymouth quiets down on a workday

On a workday 147 residents head out to work, 0 work right here, and 19 people come in from elsewhere.

147live here, work elsewhere
0live and work here
19work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night460
Workday330
460live here− 150head out to work+ 19come in to work= 330on a workday

About 330 people are in Plymouth on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.13jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

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

Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.

How far

Half of Plymouth commutes less than 23 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 miCarthage: 17% · 14 miMacomb: 6% · 17.4 miAugusta: 5% · 4.6 miMount Sterling: 5% · 22.6 miBowen: 5% · 8.8 miCarthage: 5% · 12.4 miQuincy: 3% · 34.8 miChicago: 3% · 199.3 miPeoria: 3% · 75.3 miKeokuk: 3% · 26.9 miCarthage 17%Macomb 6%Augusta 5%Mount Sterling 5%Bowen 5%Plymouth
PlymouthTop destinations (size = commuters)
11%Under 10 mi16 residents
44%10–24 mi64 residents
14%25–50 mi20 residents
31%Over 50 mi45 residents

About 31% 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.

The jobs

What the 19 jobs in Plymouth are

19 jobs are based in Plymouth. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Plymouth’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in PlymouthJobs Plymouth residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms21%25%
Trade, transport & utilities32%35%
Services: health, schools, offices47%39%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less32%18%
$1,251–$3,333 a month42%30%
Over $3,333 a month26%52%

Who does it

29 or younger37%24%
30 to 5453%46%
55 and older11%31%
−10%

Jobs based in Plymouth, 2013 → 2023: 21 → 19. 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.

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 Plymouth

Plymouth home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Plymouth, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
Is the commute from Plymouth worth it?

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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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