Point of Rocks · Photo: Jeff the quiet · CC0Baraboo has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
Employers in Baraboo report 265 jobs; 882 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Baraboo B+; getting around on foot earns it B−. Household incomes here are higher than in 77% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Baraboo, in brief
Baraboo and Baraboo trade workers both ways
Baraboo is the top workplace for Baraboo residents (20%) and also where the most people who work in Baraboo come from (20% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Baraboo is a place people come home to
There are 265 jobs based in Baraboo, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Baraboo has about 1,200 people in it, 35% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 882 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Baraboo’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Baraboo is better than 72% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Baraboo’s grade up ($100,909, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (1.7%) is left out: Baraboo’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, Baraboo could be anywhere from B− to A.
20% of working residents work in Baraboo
Where Baraboo clocks in
14% 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.
Who leaves Baraboo for work, and who comes in
On a workday 866 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 249 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Baraboo on a workday afternoon, 35% 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 2024, primary jobs.
Jobs in Baraboo: what the 265 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Baraboo, 2014 → 2024: 338 → 265. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Baraboo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 18 minutes from Baraboo
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Baraboo workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 722 commuters (the 10% 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.
Baraboo’s commute, mile by mile
About 21% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Driving is how Baraboo gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Baraboo is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 5.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 799 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 Baraboo households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Baraboo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Baraboo places 1,126th of 6,085 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Wind Point WI | 1,620 | $143K | 0.4% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,124 | Monterey Township OH | 2,061 | $87K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 12% | B+ |
| 1,125 | Independence Township PA | 2,236 | $93K | 12.9% | 2.4% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,126 | Baraboo WI | 1,778 | $101K | 6.1% | 1.7% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,127 | Harlan IN | 1,254 | $75K | 5.6% | 5.9% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,128 | Deatsville AL | 1,715 | $124K | 4.0% | 5.6% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Baraboo, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Baraboo and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to West Baraboo (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Baraboo workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baraboo | – | B+ | B− | 18 min | $100,909 |
| West Baraboo | 2% | B− | A− | 19 min | $60,880 |
| Sumpter | under 3% | C+ | D | 25 min | $59,231 |
| Delton | under 3% | B+ | C+ | 22 min | $87,299 |
| Freedom | under 3% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Excelsior | under 3% | B | D− | 21 min | $92,083 |
| Fairfield | under 3% | C+ | B | 26 min | $84,828 |
| Greenfield | under 3% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Merrimac | under 3% | A− | C− | 29 min | $109,375 |
Same-state neighbors only. Freedom and Greenfield: the same communities as the places of those names, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Baraboo’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 2024, 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 Baraboo: questions
What is the median household income in Baraboo?
$100,909 (±$10,421) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Baraboo?
6.1%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Baraboo?
18 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Baraboo work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Baraboo (20%, 2 mi), Madison (14%, 31 mi), Lake Delton (6%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Baraboo walkable?
Baraboo is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Baraboo 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 Baraboo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Baraboo
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.