Photo: Corey Coyle · CC BY 3.0Madison draws more than half of Blooming Grove’s working residents
Hardly any work in Blooming Grove; the top destination outside it is Madison (61%, 7 miles). Commuters spend 21 minutes getting to work on average, next to 22 for Wisconsin and 26 for the U.S. 704 jobs are based in Blooming Grove, against 849 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Blooming Grove
Most Blooming Grove residents work close to home
71% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
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 849 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Blooming Grove
On income, poverty and job access, Blooming Grove is better than 85% of U.S. towns. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 84% of U.S. towns); household income ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns ($90,000, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
Unemployment (2.7%) is left out: Blooming Grove’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, Blooming Grove could be anywhere from B+ to A.
How far it is to work from Blooming Grove
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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Blooming Grove
On a workday 846 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 701 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Blooming Grove on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.83 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 Blooming Grove goes to work
Where Blooming Grove clocks in
61% of workers
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.
Jobs in Blooming Grove: what the 704 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blooming Grove, 2013 → 2023: 626 → 704. 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 Blooming Grove’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 21 minutes each way for Blooming Grove’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blooming Grove workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 791 commuters (the 15% 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.
Blooming Grove is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 935 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 98% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 23% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 12.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 95% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.1% of Blooming Grove households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Blooming Grove’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Blooming Grove ranks: 466th of 6,308 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Wind Point WI | 1,620 | $143K | 0.4% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 464 | Palmyra WI | 1,230 | $86K | 3.7% | 2.9% | 1% | A− |
| 465 | Northfield KY | 1,015 | $111K | 10.5% | 0.5% | 2% | A− |
| 466 | Blooming Grove WI | 1,488 | $90K | 6.6% | 2.7% | <1% | A− |
| 467 | Buckeystown MD | 1,192 | $134K | 8.0% | 1.8% | 0% | A− |
| 468 | Palm Beach Shores FL | 1,350 | $87K | 5.3% | 9.1% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | 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 Blooming Grove, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Bordering towns draw 68% of Blooming Grove’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Blooming Grove workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blooming Grove | – | A− | A+ | 21 min | $90,000 |
| Madison | 61% | A− | A+ | 19 min | $78,050 |
| Monona | 2% | A− | A | 20 min | $87,773 |
| McFarland | 1% | A | B | 19 min | $97,500 |
| Dunn | under 1% | A+ | D | 22 min | $127,734 |
| Fitchburg | 4% | A− | A | 19 min | $86,516 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Madison. Darker towns draw more of Blooming Grove’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 Blooming Grove: questions
What is the median household income in Blooming Grove?
$90,000 (±$10,834) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blooming Grove?
6.6%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Blooming Grove?
21 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blooming Grove work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison (61%, 7 mi), Middleton (4%, 11 mi), Fitchburg (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Blooming Grove walkable?
Blooming Grove is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 12.0 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Blooming Grove without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 23% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blooming Grove, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blooming Grove
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.