Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0Work and commuting in Wausau
Only 2% stay in Wausau for work; outside it, Chipley is the main destination (13%, 10 miles). For 4% of workers, the job is at home, where Florida as a whole has 16%. The average commute takes 31 minutes each way, where Florida has 28 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Wausau on a workday afternoon
On a workday 123 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 109 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.89 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Wausau: the destinations
Where Wausau clocks in
13% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
111 jobs are based in Wausau.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wausau, 2013 → 2023: 18 → 111. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Wausau’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Wausau spends getting to work: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wausau workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 123 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Florida: 83% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far it is to work from Wausau
About 29% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Wausau: questions
What is the median household income in Wausau?
$32,500 (±$9,881) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wausau?
31.9%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wausau?
31 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wausau work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chipley (13%, 10 mi), Panama City (9%, 27 mi), Marianna (5%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Wausau without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wausau, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wausau
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer.