Photo: Jonathunder · CC BY-SA 3.0Boscobel has higher unemployment (7.1%) than 83% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Boscobel; the top destination outside it is Madison (6%, 64 miles). Jobs and income earn Boscobel D; getting around on foot earns it A−. The average commute takes 17 minutes each way (Wisconsin 22, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Boscobel at work: what stands out
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Boscobel
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Boscobel is better than 7% of U.S. towns, #358 of 362 in Wisconsin. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Boscobel’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Boscobel could be anywhere from D− to C.
The trip to work from Boscobel: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Boscobel workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,004 commuters (the 7% 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.
Who works in Boscobel, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 935 residents head out to work, 375 work right here, and 1,422 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,700 people are in Boscobel on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.37 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 the trip to work from Boscobel ends
Where Boscobel clocks in
6% 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.
Goods, not services: 29% of the jobs in Boscobel
1,797 jobs are based in Boscobel.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Boscobel, 2013 → 2023: 1,434 → 1,797. 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 Boscobel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Boscobel commutes
About 29% 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.
Boscobel is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Boscobel is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns, #61 of 362 in Wisconsin. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,085 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). 2.8% of Boscobel households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Boscobel’s commuters take a bus or train.
Boscobel and other U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Ottawa WI | 3,642 | $153K | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Jackson WI | 3,950 | $117K | 0.6% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | Bristol WI | 4,347 | $141K | 1.2% | 0.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,127 | Dudley NC | 2,305 | $42K | 35.3% | 0.7% | 3% | D |
| 4,128 | Westminster SC | 2,504 | $41K | 21.3% | 3.9% | 3% | D |
| 4,129 | Boscobel WI | 3,250 | $54K | 20.6% | 7.1% | 29% | D |
| 4,130 | Cherryvale SC | 2,611 | $40K | 23.0% | 26.7% | 1% | D |
| 4,131 | Kaplan LA | 4,116 | $40K | 35.3% | 8.8% | 12% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,453 | 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 Boscobel, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Boscobel
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Boscobel workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boscobel | – | D | A− | 17 min | $54,071 |
| Watterstown | under 2% | — | — | 34 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Watterstown: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Boscobel’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 Boscobel: questions
What is the median household income in Boscobel?
$54,071 (±$11,687) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Boscobel?
20.6%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Boscobel?
17 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Boscobel work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison (6%, 64 mi), Richland Center (5%, 21 mi), Muscoda (5%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Boscobel walkable?
Boscobel is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Boscobel 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 Boscobel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Boscobel
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.