Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Most of Chetek commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
The two grades for Chetek are B+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. Employers in Chetek report 235 jobs, against 802 working residents. Only 2% stay in Chetek for work; outside it, Chetek is the main destination (15%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Chetek apart
Chetek and Chetek trade workers both ways
Chetek is the top workplace for Chetek residents (15%) and also where the most people who work in Chetek come from (11% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Chetek is a place people come home to
There are 235 jobs based in Chetek, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Chetek has about 1,200 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 802 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Chetek’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Chetek is better than 69% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Chetek’s grade up (3.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 23% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (2.5%) is left out: Chetek’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, Chetek could be anywhere from B− to A−.
The towns that employ Chetek’s residents
Where Chetek clocks in
15% of workers
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.
Who commutes out of Chetek, and who commutes in
On a workday 782 residents head out to work, 20 work right here, and 215 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Chetek on a workday afternoon, 32% 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.
Jobs in Chetek: what the 235 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chetek, 2013 → 2023: 162 → 235. 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 Chetek’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 23 minutes from Chetek
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chetek workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 757 commuters (the 13% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Chetek
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Chetek, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chetek is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 5.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 869 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). 1.3% of Chetek households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Chetek’s commuters take a bus or train.
Chetek next to U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400: 1,233rd of 6,085 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Wind Point WI | 1,620 | $143K | 0.4% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,231 | Danbury TX | 1,683 | $92K | 9.3% | 6.1% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,232 | Frelinghuysen Township NJ | 2,239 | $123K | 3.8% | 6.8% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,233 | Chetek WI | 1,756 | $95K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,234 | Black Brook WI | 1,471 | $103K | 3.8% | 3.3% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,235 | Lagunitas-Forest Knolls CA | 1,626 | $131K | 4.4% | 2.4% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Chetek, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
How Chetek compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Prairie Lake (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Chetek workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chetek | – | B+ | B | 23 min | $95,357 |
| Prairie Lake | 1% | C+ | D | 25 min | $71,250 |
| Rusk | under 2% | — | — | 43 min | — |
| Sumner | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Dovre | under 2% | — | — | 31 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Rusk, Sumner and Dovre: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Chetek’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 Chetek: questions
What is the median household income in Chetek?
$95,357 (±$21,753) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chetek?
3.2%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chetek?
23 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chetek work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chetek (15%, 3 mi), Rice Lake (14%, 12 mi), Barron (7%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chetek walkable?
Chetek is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chetek 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 Chetek, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chetek
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.