Work & commute · Polo

Work & commute in Polo, IL

Most working residents leave Polo for work: only 10% work in town. The top destinations are Dixon (15%), Sterling (8%) and Chicago (5%). Half commute less than 15 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

10%

100 of 985 working residents

Typical commute

15 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

26 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 885 Polo residents head out of town to work, 100 work right here, and 411 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Polo.

885live here, work elsewhere

100live and work here

411work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Polo goes to work

Dixon11.1 mi away

15%151

Polo (in town)right here

10%100

Sterling14.1 mi away

8%76

Chicago98 mi away

5%45

Rockford32.6 mi away

4%43

Oregon12.7 mi away

3%34

Sterling13 mi away

3%30

Dixon10.2 mi away

3%25

Freeport21.2 mi away

2%22

Oregon-Nashua12.9 mi away

2%18

Everywhere elseother towns and states

45%441

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

How far

How far Polo commutes

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

16%

46%

12%

26%

16%Under 10 mi

46%10–24 mi

12%25–50 mi

26%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Polo is a commuter town

0.52jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Polo are

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

Jobs based in Polo

511 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)31%

Trade, transport & utilities24%

Services (health, schools, offices…)45%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month41%

Over $3,333 a month43%

Jobs Polo residents hold

985 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)25%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)54%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month29%

Over $3,333 a month58%

+3%

Jobs based in Polo, 2013 → 2023: 496 → 511. 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.