Photo: Appraiser · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Barron have lower incomes than those in 91% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Barron D; getting around on foot earns it B+. 17.7% of residents are in poverty (Wisconsin 10.6%). 4% of workers have no commute at all, next to 13% for Wisconsin as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Barron
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Barron’s working residents have a job less than 9 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 27 minutes, longer than the Wisconsin average of 22. Time on the road ↓
Barron is where the jobs are
Barron has 2,843 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Barron makes and builds things
37% of the jobs based in Barron are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Barron residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 37%. The jobs ↓
Few Barron workers work from home
Only 4% 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 drives the Jobs & income grade in Barron
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Barron is better than 9% of U.S. towns, #354 of 362 in Wisconsin. Job access by car holds Barron’s grade up (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($47,469, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Barron could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Time on the road from Barron: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Barron workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,174 commuters (the 4% 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.
In and out of Barron on a workday
On a workday 1,245 residents head out to work, 483 work right here, and 2,360 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,700 people are in Barron on a workday afternoon, 31% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Barron works in goods: 37% of its jobs
2,843 jobs are based in Barron.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Barron, 2013 → 2023: 3,567 → 2,843. 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 Barron’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where the people who work in Barron live
Where Barron 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Barron
About 22% 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.
For most of Barron, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Barron is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #109 of 362 in Wisconsin. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, the same share as across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 6.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,225 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). 4.3% of Barron households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Barron’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,900, and where Barron sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Ottawa WI | 3,642 | $153K | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | Jackson WI | 3,950 | $117K | 0.6% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Bristol WI | 4,347 | $141K | 1.2% | 0.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,117 | Crossett AR | 4,454 | $45K | 22.0% | 5.3% | 46% | D |
| 4,118 | Orofino ID | 3,259 | $53K | 13.6% | 6.5% | 42% | D |
| 4,119 | Barron WI | 3,634 | $47K | 17.7% | 8.0% | 28% | D |
| 4,120 | Peaceful Valley WA | 2,858 | $60K | 17.1% | 6.2% | 2% | D |
| 4,121 | Sibley IA | 2,762 | $55K | 23.5% | 6.7% | 39% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,474 | 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 Barron, 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 Barron: questions
What is the median household income in Barron?
$47,469 (±$10,555) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Barron?
17.7%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Barron?
27 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Barron work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rice Lake (16%, 8 mi), Eau Claire (4%, 44 mi), Turtle Lake (3%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Barron walkable?
Barron is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Barron 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 Barron, from the people who make the trip.
More of Barron
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.