Blair’s household incomes are lower than in 73% of U.S. towns
Only 7% work in Blair itself; outside it, Whitehall draws the most (18%, 3 miles). Poverty touches 16.7% of residents; Wisconsin has 10.6%. The two grades for Blair are C− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Blair in brief
Fewer jobs are based in Blair than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Blair fell from 594 in 2013 to 380 in 2023, −36%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Blair makes and builds things
41% of the jobs based in Blair are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Blair residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 37%. 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 612 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Blair’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Blair is better than 16% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Blair’s grade.
Unemployment (3.8%) is left out: Blair’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, Blair could be anywhere from D to C.
Blair makes things: 41% of its jobs are in goods
380 jobs are based in Blair.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blair, 2013 → 2023: 594 → 380. 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 Blair’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Blair on a workday afternoon
On a workday 570 residents head out to work, 42 work right here, and 338 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Blair on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.62 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Where Blair goes to work
Where Blair clocks in
9% 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 daily trip from Blair: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blair workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 605 commuters (the 6% 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 Blair’s workers travel
About 25% 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 Blair, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Blair is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% 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 643 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). 8.9% of Blair households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Blair’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Blair is 3,577th among 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Wind Point WI | 1,620 | $143K | 0.4% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,575 | St. Stephen SC | 1,623 | $65K | 16.5% | 6.1% | 3% | C− |
| 3,576 | Chilhowie VA | 1,599 | $51K | 13.1% | 1.7% | 9% | C− |
| 3,577 | Blair WI | 1,292 | $60K | 16.7% | 3.8% | 7% | C− |
| 3,578 | Rock River Township MI | 1,230 | $63K | 10.8% | 5.4% | 6% | C− |
| 3,579 | Lawrence Township PA | 1,618 | $60K | 15.9% | 6.9% | 7% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Blair, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Blair
The biggest share goes to Preston (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Blair workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blair | – | C− | C+ | 24 min | $60,446 |
| Preston | 5% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Springfield | under 2% | — | — | 29 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Preston and Springfield: 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 Blair’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 Blair: questions
What is the median household income in Blair?
$60,446 (±$6,869) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blair?
16.7%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Blair?
24 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blair work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Whitehall (18%, 3 mi), La Crosse (9%, 35 mi), Preston (5%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Blair walkable?
Blair is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Blair without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blair, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blair
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.