With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Chain O' Lakes works elsewhere
Chain O' Lakes has 257 jobs; 512 of its residents have a job. Working residents average 16 minutes each way; Wisconsin averages 22, the U.S. 26. 5% of workers have no commute at all; Wisconsin has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Chain O' Lakes
Fewer jobs are based in Chain O' Lakes than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Chain O' Lakes fell from 1,255 in 2014 to 257 in 2024, −80%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Chain O' Lakes and Waupaca trade workers both ways
Waupaca is the top workplace for Chain O' Lakes residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Chain O' Lakes come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Chain O' Lakes are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 22 across Wisconsin. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Wisconsin worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 512 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Goods, not services: 54% of the jobs in Chain O' Lakes
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chain O' Lakes, 2014 → 2024: 1,255 → 257. 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 Chain O' Lakes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
24% of working residents work in Waupaca
Where Chain O' Lakes clocks in
24% of workers
8% 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.
About 16 minutes each way for Chain O' Lakes’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chain O' Lakes workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 314 commuters (the 5% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Chain O' Lakes
On a workday 501 residents head out to work, 11 work right here, and 246 people come in from elsewhere.
About 650 people are in Chain O' Lakes on a workday afternoon, 28% 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.
Half of Chain O' Lakes commutes less than 22 miles
About 26% 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.
Work next door: 24% of Chain O' Lakes’ workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Chain O' Lakes workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chain O' Lakes | – | — | — | 16 min | $83,194 |
| King | under 3% | — | — | 17 min | — |
| Waupaca | 24% | C | B− | 28 min | $52,727 |
Same-state neighbors only. King: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Waupaca. Darker towns draw more of Chain O' Lakes’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 Chain O' Lakes: questions
What is the median household income in Chain O' Lakes?
$83,194 (±$47,462) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chain O' Lakes?
3.7%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chain O' Lakes?
16 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chain O' Lakes work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waupaca (24%, 5 mi), Farmington (8%, 3 mi), Appleton (5%, 39 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Chain O' Lakes without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chain O' Lakes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chain O' Lakes
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.