Most of Calamus commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
Hardly any stay in Calamus for work; outside it, Madison is the main destination (15%, 33 miles). Employers in Calamus report 82 jobs, and 523 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Calamus is better than 79% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns (D).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Calamus
Calamus is a place people come home to
There are 82 jobs based in Calamus, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Calamus has about 590 people in it, 43% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Calamus’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Calamus is Madison, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 15% of working residents (79) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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 523 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Calamus’ Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Calamus’ grade up (3.6%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 36% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (1.9%) is left out: Calamus’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, Calamus could be anywhere from B to A.
The daily commute in and out of Calamus
On a workday 521 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 80 people come in from elsewhere.
About 590 people are in Calamus on a workday afternoon, 43% 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 2023, primary jobs.
The distance from Calamus to work
About 15% 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.
Where Calamus’ working residents head each day
Where Calamus clocks in
15% of workers
13% 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.
The kinds of work in Calamus
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Calamus, 2013 → 2023: 239 → 82. 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 Calamus’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Calamus: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Calamus workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 429 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.
Driving is how Calamus gets around
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 462 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 Calamus households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Calamus’ commuters take a bus or train.
293rd of 3,133: where Calamus ranks among U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 291 | Langola Township MN | 1,025 | $114K | 5.4% | 2.8% | <1% | A− |
| 292 | Merrimac WI | 1,296 | $109K | 4.2% | 3.4% | 3% | A− |
| 293 | Calamus WI | 1,035 | $108K | 3.6% | 1.9% | <1% | A− |
| 294 | Nassau NY | 1,077 | $85K | 4.6% | 7.8% | 2% | A− |
| 295 | Walnut Creek OH | 1,053 | $81K | 1.3% | 32.5% | 4% | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Calamus, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Calamus
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Calamus workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calamus | – | A− | D | 22 min | $107,841 |
| Fountain Prairie | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Westford | under 2% | B | C | 23 min | $92,813 |
| Lowell | under 2% | B+ | C | 30 min | $95,592 |
| Elba | under 2% | A | D− | 31 min | $110,500 |
| Beaver Dam | under 2% | B+ | B | 20 min | $82,163 |
Same-state neighbors only. Fountain Prairie: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Calamus’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 Calamus: questions
What is the median household income in Calamus?
$107,841 (±$22,229) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Calamus?
3.6%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Calamus?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Calamus work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison (15%, 33 mi), Beaver Dam (13%, 7 mi), Columbus (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Calamus walkable?
Calamus is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Calamus 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 Calamus, from the people who make the trip.
More of Calamus
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.