Adams has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Jobs and income earn Adams C+; getting around on foot earns it D. Adams has 132 jobs, against 646 working residents. Only 2% work in Adams; the top destination outside it is Black River Falls (21%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Adams, in brief
A lot of Adams works one town over
32% of working residents work in a town that borders Adams: Black River Falls (21%), Brockway (9%) and Alma (2%). Next door ↓
Adams is a place people come home to
There are 132 jobs based in Adams, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Adams has about 890 people in it, 37% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 646 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Adams’ grade
On income, poverty and job access, Adams is better than 36% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Adams’ grade up (9.3%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 18% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (1.1%) is left out: Adams’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Adams could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Adams on a workday afternoon
On a workday 631 residents head out to work, 15 work right here, and 117 people come in from elsewhere.
About 890 people are in Adams on a workday afternoon, 37% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Adams goes to work
Where Adams clocks in
Lines 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.
Jobs in Adams: what the 132 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Adams, 2013 → 2023: 140 → 132. 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 Adams’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Adams: about 26 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Adams workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 660 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across Wisconsin: 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Adams
About 26% 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.
In Adams, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Adams is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Adams near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 715 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.2% of Adams households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Adams’ commuters take a bus or train.
Adams next to U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900: 2,913th of 5,877 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Wind Point WI | 1,620 | $143K | 0.4% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,911 | Antrim Township OH | 1,129 | $67K | 10.1% | 2.2% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,912 | Blanchard Township OH | 1,214 | $78K | 12.1% | 0.0% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,913 | Adams WI | 1,400 | $76K | 9.3% | 1.1% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,914 | Prairie Lake WI | 1,670 | $71K | 9.2% | 1.0% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,915 | Neoga IL | 1,369 | $73K | 11.8% | 3.2% | 6% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Adams, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door is work for 32% of Adams
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Adams workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adams | – | C+ | D | 26 min | $75,750 |
| Komensky | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Black River Falls | 21% | B− | B+ | 19 min | $66,632 |
| Brockway | 9% | D | C+ | 23 min | $49,896 |
| Alma | 2% | C+ | D | 36 min | $76,029 |
| Dewhurst | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Albion | under 2% | C | D | 22 min | $68,214 |
Same-state neighbors only. Komensky and Dewhurst: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Black River Falls. Darker towns draw more of Adams’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Adams: questions
What is the median household income in Adams?
$75,750 (±$11,159) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Adams?
9.3%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Adams?
26 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Adams work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Black River Falls (21%, 4 mi), Brockway (9%, 5 mi), Eau Claire (4%, 46 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Adams walkable?
Adams is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Adams without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Adams, from the people who make the trip.
More of Adams
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. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.