Buena Vista has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Employers in Buena Vista report 153 jobs for 535 working residents. Jobs and income earn Buena Vista B−; getting around on foot earns it B. Only 1% stay in Buena Vista for work; outside it, Stevens Point is the main destination (17%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Buena Vista at work: what stands out
The figures behind Buena Vista’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Buena Vista is better than 47% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Buena Vista’s grade up (4.7%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 22% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.8%) is left out: Buena Vista’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, Buena Vista could be anywhere from C to B+.
Who leaves Buena Vista for work, and who comes in
On a workday 529 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 147 people come in from elsewhere.
About 760 people are in Buena Vista on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Buena Vista ends
Where Buena Vista clocks in
7% 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.
32% of the jobs in Buena Vista make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Buena Vista, 2014 → 2024: 119 → 153. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Buena Vista’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 21 minutes each way for Buena Vista’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Buena Vista workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 453 commuters (the 14% 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.
Miles to work from Buena Vista
About 28% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Buena Vista, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Buena Vista is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 5.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 529 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). 2.4% of Buena Vista households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Buena Vista’s commuters take a bus or train.
Buena Vista next to U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500: 1,354th of 3,771 on jobs and income
| # | 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% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Big Bend WI | 1,498 | $135K | 3.2% | 0.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,352 | Garfield Township IL | 1,452 | $88K | 16.0% | 12.8% | 3% | B− |
| 1,353 | Royalston MA | 1,297 | $102K | 11.8% | 5.5% | 5% | B− |
| 1,354 | Buena Vista WI | 1,145 | $68K | 4.7% | 1.8% | 1% | B− |
| 1,355 | Jolivue VA | 1,075 | $38K | 4.0% | 6.1% | 3% | B− |
| 1,356 | Liberty Township OH | 1,361 | $77K | 9.6% | 6.4% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Buena Vista, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Work in the towns next to Buena Vista
The biggest share goes to Pine Grove (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Buena Vista workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buena Vista | – | B− | B | 21 min | $68,472 |
| Plover | under 2% | B+ | C+ | 16 min | $90,481 |
| Almond | under 2% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| Lanark | under 2% | B+ | D | 26 min | $104,217 |
| Stockton | under 2% | A− | C− | 24 min | $87,632 |
| Pine Grove | 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Almond: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Pine Grove: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Buena Vista’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 2024, 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 Buena Vista: questions
What is the median household income in Buena Vista?
$68,472 (±$20,851) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Buena Vista?
4.7%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Buena Vista?
21 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Buena Vista work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Stevens Point (17%, 12 mi), Plover (8%, 7 mi), Waupaca (7%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Buena Vista walkable?
Buena Vista is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Buena Vista without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Buena Vista, from the people who make the trip.
More of Buena Vista
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.