Arcadia Free Public Library · Photo: Jon Roanhaus · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Arcadia (5.6%) is higher than in 69% of U.S. towns
About one in five stay in Arcadia for work; outside it, Whitehall is the main destination (32%, 11 miles). For jobs and income Arcadia is better than 23% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (C). 2% of workers work from home, where Wisconsin as a whole has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Arcadia
Arcadia trades workers with the towns around it
Arcadia has about as many jobs (1,509) as working residents (1,497), but they are mostly different people: 1,180 residents leave for work each day while 1,192 people come in. Only 21% of the jobs in Arcadia are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Arcadia are quick
The average trip to work takes 12 minutes, against 22 across Wisconsin. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Wisconsin worker. Time on the road ↓
Arcadia makes and builds things
41% of the jobs based in Arcadia are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Arcadia residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 50%. The jobs ↓
One in three of Arcadia works in Whitehall
477 working residents, 32%, have their main job in Whitehall, 11 miles away. That’s more than work in Arcadia itself. The commute map ↓
Few Arcadia workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 13% across Wisconsin. 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.
What’s behind Arcadia’s Jobs & income grade
Household income holds Arcadia’s grade up ($74,531, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Arcadia could be anywhere from D− to A−.
The daily commute in and out of Arcadia
On a workday 1,180 residents head out to work, 317 work right here, and 1,192 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 (1.01 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.
From Arcadia, about 12 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Arcadia workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,540 commuters (the 2% 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.
Arcadia works in goods: 41% of its jobs
1,509 jobs are based in Arcadia.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Arcadia, 2013 → 2023: 1,529 → 1,509. 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 Arcadia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where people from Arcadia work
Where Arcadia clocks in
4% of workers
4% 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.
The commute from Arcadia, by distance
About 23% 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.
Driving is how Arcadia gets around
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.8% across Wisconsin.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,565 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). 3.9% of Arcadia households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Arcadia’s commuters take a bus or train.
Arcadia places 3,331st of 4,264 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Ottawa WI | 3,642 | $153K | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Jackson WI | 3,950 | $117K | 0.6% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | Bristol WI | 4,347 | $141K | 1.2% | 0.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,329 | Vinton LA | 3,115 | $42K | 32.7% | 3.6% | 13% | C− |
| 3,330 | Elizabethtown NC | 3,306 | $29K | 33.0% | 0.0% | 20% | C− |
| 3,331 | Arcadia WI | 3,840 | $75K | 16.5% | 5.6% | 21% | C− |
| 3,332 | Cahokia Township IL | 3,084 | $57K | 15.1% | 4.7% | 2% | C− |
| 3,333 | Brownfields LA | 4,261 | $66K | 24.3% | 19.7% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,264 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Arcadia, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
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 Arcadia: questions
What is the median household income in Arcadia?
$74,531 (±$20,182) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Arcadia?
16.5%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Arcadia?
12 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Arcadia work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Whitehall (32%, 11 mi), La Crosse (4%, 32 mi), Winona (4%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Arcadia walkable?
Arcadia is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Arcadia without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Arcadia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Arcadia
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.