Zion Congregational Church · Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Alto have higher incomes than those in 81% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 1.0% of residents, against 10.6% across Wisconsin. Jobs and income earn Alto A; getting around on foot earns it C. Only 5% work in Alto itself; outside it, Fond du Lac draws the most (16%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Alto: the gist
Alto makes and builds things
93% of the jobs based in Alto are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Alto residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 34%. The jobs ↓
The jobs in Alto pay better than its residents’ jobs
87% of the jobs based in Alto pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 63% of the jobs Alto residents hold. 97% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Alto. The jobs ↓
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 550 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Alto’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Alto is better than 85% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Alto’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (0.9%) is left out: Alto’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, Alto could be anywhere from A− to A.
In Alto, 93% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
791 jobs are based in Alto.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alto, 2013 → 2023: 610 → 791. 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 Alto’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Alto by day and by night
On a workday 524 residents head out to work, 26 work right here, and 765 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Alto on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.44 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.
Where people from Alto work
Where Alto clocks in
16% of workers
7% 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.
Time on the road from Alto: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alto workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 508 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.
How far Alto goes to work
About 18% 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.
Few in Alto walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Alto is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 3.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 555 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). 1.1% of Alto households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Alto’s commuters take a bus or train.
Alto is 185th of 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 67 | Kaukauna WI | 1,295 | $122K | 2.0% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 183 | Monroe Township IN | 1,315 | $128K | 1.5% | 1.2% | 1% | A |
| 184 | Sundre Township ND | 1,024 | $107K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 2% | A |
| 185 | Alto WI | 1,046 | $106K | 1.0% | 0.9% | 5% | A |
| 186 | Rossville TN | 1,215 | $120K | 7.3% | 6.1% | 1% | A |
| 187 | Newburg WI | 1,129 | $78K | 2.3% | 1.3% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | 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 Alto, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Around Alto: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Waupun (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Alto workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alto | – | A | C | 20 min | $106,154 |
| Waupun | under 2% | A | C− | 20 min | $112,750 |
| Mackford | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Metomen | under 2% | — | — | 31 min | — |
| Trenton | under 2% | A− | C+ | 24 min | $99,074 |
| Waupun | 7% | B− | B+ | 18 min | $65,625 |
Same-state neighbors only. Mackford and Metomen: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Alto’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 Alto: questions
What is the median household income in Alto?
$106,154 (±$11,731) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alto?
1.0%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alto?
20 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alto work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fond du Lac (16%, 20 mi), Ripon (9%, 11 mi), Waupun (7%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alto walkable?
Alto is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 3.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alto 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 Alto, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alto
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.