Work & commute · Seward

Work & commute in Seward, IL

Most working residents leave Seward for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Chicago (13%), Joliet (10%) and Naperville (4%). Half commute less than 23 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

43 of 3,449 working residents

Typical commute

23 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

40 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

11%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 3,406 Seward residents head out of town to work, 43 work right here, and 644 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Seward.

3,406live here, work elsewhere

43live and work here

644work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Seward goes to work

Chicago40 mi away

13%447

Joliet8.9 mi away

10%332

Naperville18.7 mi away

4%155

Aurora17.9 mi away

3%108

Minooka4.3 mi away

3%107

Plainfield9.3 mi away

3%102

Bolingbrook16.6 mi away

3%87

Morris10.2 mi away

2%64

Romeoville14.1 mi away

2%64

Yorkville12.2 mi away

2%54

Everywhere elseother towns and states

56%1,929

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

How far

How far Seward commutes

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

20%

35%

38%

20%Under 10 mi

35%10–24 mi

38%25–50 mi

8%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Seward is a commuter town

0.20jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Seward are

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

Jobs based in Seward

687 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)8%

Trade, transport & utilities57%

Services (health, schools, offices…)35%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month30%

Over $3,333 a month56%

Jobs Seward residents hold

3,449 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities28%

Services (health, schools, offices…)58%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month66%

+87%

Jobs based in Seward, 2013 → 2023: 368 → 687. 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.