Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainHow Wausa works: jobs, income and commuting
About one in seven work in Wausa; the top destination outside it is Bloomfield (17%, 9 miles). 2% of workers work from home (Nebraska 11%). A typical one-way commute lasts 22 minutes, where Nebraska has 19 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Wausa
Wausa and Bloomfield trade workers both ways
Bloomfield is the top workplace for Wausa residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Wausa come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Wausa workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 11% across Nebraska. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 249 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Commuting out of Wausa: the destinations
Where Wausa clocks in
6% 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.
Commuting from Wausa: about 22 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wausa workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 369 commuters (the 2% who work from home are left out). Across Nebraska: 86% 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.
Wausa by day and by night
On a workday 219 residents head out to work, 30 work right here, and 242 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 (1.09 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.
What work there is in Wausa: 272 jobs
272 jobs are based in Wausa.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wausa, 2013 → 2023: 263 → 272. 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 Wausa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Wausa’s workers travel
About 24% 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 Wausa: questions
What is the median household income in Wausa?
$59,375 (±$28,701) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wausa?
4.0%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wausa?
22 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wausa work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bloomfield (17%, 9 mi), Norfolk (6%, 33 mi), Yankton (5%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Wausa without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wausa, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wausa
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.