Wyman-Rye Farmstead · Photo: Sa magnuson33 · CC BY-SA 3.0Bradford has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs & income A: better than 91% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability C−: more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are higher than in 86% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 26 minutes each way (Wisconsin 22, U.S. 26). Only 2% work in Bradford; the top destination outside it is Janesville (13%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Bradford
What’s behind Bradford’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Bradford is better than 91% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate is its strongest input (2.8%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 58% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (5.6%) is left out: Bradford’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, Bradford could be anywhere from B to A+.
Bradford quiets down on a workday
On a workday 452 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 125 people come in from elsewhere.
About 680 people are in Bradford on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer than live here.
0.29 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.
13% of working residents work in Janesville
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Bradford clocks in
13% of workers
9% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Bradford makes things: 65% of its jobs are in goods
133 jobs are based in Bradford. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Bradford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bradford, 2013 → 2023: 125 → 133. 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.
About 26 minutes each way, longer than most of Wisconsin
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bradford workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 439 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.
Half of Bradford commutes less than 15 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Most trips from Bradford start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bradford is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Bradford near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 515 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 2.3% of Bradford households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bradford’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bradford is 113th of 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Bradford, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 67 | Kaukauna WI | 1,295 | $122K | 2.0% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 111 | Kensington NY | 1,278 | $221K | 11.9% | 4.4% | <1% | A |
| 112 | Oxford Township OH | 1,100 | $126K | 0.0% | 4.6% | 0% | A |
| 113 | Bradford WI | 1,002 | $116K | 2.8% | 5.6% | 2% | A |
| 114 | Haskins OH | 1,263 | $109K | 4.4% | 4.3% | <1% | A |
| 115 | Miller Township OH | 1,074 | $135K | 2.5% | 6.4% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | 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.
Bradford and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Darien (3%). Darker towns draw more of Bradford’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bradford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bradford | – | A | C− | 26 min | $115,833 |
| La Prairie | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Clinton | under 2% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| Darien | 3% | — | — | 19 min | — |
| Johnstown | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. La Prairie and Johnstown: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Clinton and Darien: the same communities as the places of those names, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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 Bradford: questions
What is the median household income in Bradford?
$115,833 (±$55,700) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bradford?
2.8%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bradford?
26 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bradford work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Janesville (13%, 10 mi), Madison (9%, 44 mi), Clinton (8%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bradford walkable?
Bradford is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bradford without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bradford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bradford
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.