Work & commute · St. Charles

Work & commute in St. Charles, IL

Most working residents leave St. Charles for work: only 13% work in town. The top destinations are Chicago (13%), Geneva (5%) and Elgin (4%). Half commute less than 14 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

13%

2,214 of 16,562 working residents

Typical commute

14 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

27 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

15%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 14,348 St. Charles residents head out of town to work, 2,214 work right here, and 21,198 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in St. Charles.

14,348live here, work elsewhere

2,214live and work here

21,198work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where St. Charles goes to work

St. Charles (in town)right here

13%2,214

Chicago32.7 mi away

13%2,170

Geneva2.8 mi away

5%835

Elgin8.3 mi away

4%723

Naperville14 mi away

3%549

Schaumburg13.8 mi away

3%540

Batavia5 mi away

3%526

Aurora10.8 mi away

3%495

West Chicago4.9 mi away

3%426

Wheaton11.3 mi away

2%300

Everywhere elseother towns and states

47%7,784

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

How far

How far St. Charles commutes

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

37%

21%

37%Under 10 mi

37%10–24 mi

21%25–50 mi

4%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

St. Charles is balanced between jobs and homes

1.41jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.41 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in St. Charles are

23,412 jobs are based in St. Charles. Here is what they are, next to the jobs St. Charles’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in St. Charles

23,412 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)28%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)53%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month26%

Over $3,333 a month59%

Jobs St. Charles residents hold

16,562 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)15%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)64%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month19%

Over $3,333 a month69%

+8%

Jobs based in St. Charles, 2013 → 2023: 21,713 → 23,412. 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.