Work & commute · St. Elmo

Work & commute in St. Elmo, IL

Most working residents leave St. Elmo for work: only 11% work in town. The top destinations are Effingham (16%), Vandalia (6%) and Altamont (3%). Half commute less than 21 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

11%

61 of 532 working residents

Typical commute

21 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

23 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 471 St. Elmo residents head out of town to work, 61 work right here, and 673 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in St. Elmo.

471live here, work elsewhere

61live and work here

673work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where St. Elmo goes to work

Effingham17.5 mi away

16%87

St. Elmo (in town)right here

11%61

Vandalia14.3 mi away

6%32

Altamont6.1 mi away

3%18

Springfield68 mi away

3%16

Mattoon41 mi away

3%15

Teutopolis21.3 mi away

2%12

Summit13.3 mi away

2%12

Edwardsville63.2 mi away

2%11

Chicago204 mi away

2%9

Everywhere elseother towns and states

49%259

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

How far

How far St. Elmo commutes

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

19%

33%

17%

32%

19%Under 10 mi

33%10–24 mi

17%25–50 mi

32%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

St. Elmo is balanced between jobs and homes

1.38jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.38 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in St. Elmo are

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

Jobs based in St. Elmo

734 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)50%

Trade, transport & utilities10%

Services (health, schools, offices…)40%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month26%

Over $3,333 a month64%

Jobs St. Elmo residents hold

532 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)21%

Trade, transport & utilities22%

Services (health, schools, offices…)57%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month32%

Over $3,333 a month51%

+63%

Jobs based in St. Elmo, 2013 → 2023: 450 → 734. 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.