Most of Cedar Lake commutes out: there are 0.1 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Cedar Lake report 61 jobs, and 462 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Cedar Lake are B− for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Only 2% work in Cedar Lake; the top destination outside it is Rice Lake (28%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Cedar Lake: the figures worth knowing
Cedar Lake is a place people come home to
There are 61 jobs based in Cedar Lake, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Cedar Lake has about 710 people in it, 36% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
28% of Cedar Lake works in Rice Lake
129 working residents, 28%, have their main job in Rice Lake, 10 miles away. That’s 14 times as many as work in Cedar Lake itself. The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. 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 462 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Cedar Lake’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Cedar Lake is better than 51% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Cedar Lake’s grade up (6.1%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 15% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (5.3%) is left out: Cedar Lake’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, Cedar Lake could be anywhere from C to B+.
How a workday changes Cedar Lake
On a workday 455 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 54 people come in from elsewhere.
About 710 people are in Cedar Lake on a workday afternoon, 36% 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 towns that employ Cedar Lake’s residents
Where Cedar Lake clocks in
6% of workers
5% 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 commute from Cedar Lake, by distance
About 31% 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.
In Cedar Lake, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cedar Lake, 2013 → 2023: 70 → 61. 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 Cedar Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Cedar Lake takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cedar Lake workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 295 commuters (the 16% 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 Cedar Lake gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cedar Lake is more walkable than 17% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Cedar Lake 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 353 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). 1.1% of Cedar Lake households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cedar Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Cedar Lake is 1,217th of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,215 | Germanton NC | 1,087 | $62K | 7.5% | 13.1% | 0% | B− |
| 1,216 | Arp TX | 1,020 | $73K | 9.8% | 10.6% | 1% | B− |
| 1,217 | Cedar Lake WI | 1,106 | $85K | 6.1% | 5.3% | 2% | B− |
| 1,218 | LaCoste TX | 1,255 | $69K | 13.8% | 0.0% | 1% | B− |
| 1,219 | Irvington Township IL | 1,150 | $72K | 5.5% | 6.8% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Cedar Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Cedar Lake
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cedar Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar Lake | – | B− | C− | 25 min | $85,417 |
| Birchwood | under 2% | — | — | 33 min | — |
| Wilson | under 2% | — | — | 38 min | — |
| Oak Grove | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Doyle | under 2% | — | — | 16 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Birchwood and Doyle: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Wilson and Oak Grove: the same communities as the places of those names, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cedar Lake’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 Cedar Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Cedar Lake?
$85,417 (±$18,147) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cedar Lake?
6.1%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cedar Lake?
25 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cedar Lake work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rice Lake (28%, 10 mi), Cumberland (6%, 21 mi), Barron (5%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cedar Lake walkable?
Cedar Lake is more walkable than 17% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 4.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cedar Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cedar Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cedar Lake
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.