Shorewood has Terrible 'Small-Town Record For Commuters,' Says Egghead Study

A study on the Business Journals' site puts the daily commute for residents at 35 spots from the bottom of 187 Illinois "small towns" surveyed.

Here's how the Business Journals explains its list:

"Cities, incorporated towns and census designated places (CDPs) were awarded points for all commuters who drive less than 30 minutes to work. But they lost points for all workers above that threshold. (CDPs are unincorporated communities that are judged by the Census Bureau to have the basic characteristics of cities.)"

According to this study, 49.51 percent of Shorewood residents spend more than a half-hour getting to work.

That might be considered a bad thing until you take a closer look at the nationwide list of "small towns" between 10,000 and 50,000 residents. When you do take a closer look, you will see that a town in Oklahoma came in first place and the next two finishers are somewhere in South Dakota.

Maybe the unemployment office in these towns is centrally located. Either way, any list topped by Oklahoma and South Dakota can't be too prestigious at all. Shorewood is doing just fine with its long commutes.

Incidentally, the first three places in Illinois for not having to drive too far for work are Macomb, Carbondale and Quincy. We rest our case.