Work, pay and getting to work in Clear Lake
3% of workers have no commute at all (Wisconsin 13%). Clear Lake grades C− for jobs and income and C for walkability. About one in ten stay in Clear Lake for work; outside it, Amery is the main destination (12%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Clear Lake: the figures worth knowing
Clear Lake makes and builds things
62% of the jobs based in Clear Lake are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Clear Lake residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 35%. The jobs ↓
Clear Lake is where the jobs are
Clear Lake has 871 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Few Clear Lake workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 13% across Wisconsin. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 571 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Clear Lake’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Clear Lake is better than 25% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Clear Lake’s grade up ($74,000, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (17.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (5.3%) is left out: Clear 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, Clear Lake could be anywhere from D to C+.
Goods, not services: 62% of the jobs in Clear Lake
871 jobs are based in Clear Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clear Lake, 2013 → 2023: 790 → 871. 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 Clear Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Clear Lake
On a workday 509 residents head out to work, 62 work right here, and 809 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Clear Lake on a workday afternoon, 27% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 21 minutes each way, about the WI average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clear Lake workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 457 commuters (the 3% 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.
Commuting in to Clear Lake: where workers come from
Where Clear Lake clocks in
12% 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.
How far it is to work from Clear Lake
About 21% 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.
Getting around Clear Lake: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clear Lake is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Clear 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 471 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). 3.0% of Clear Lake households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Clear Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500, Clear Lake comes 2,335th 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% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,333 | Edson WI | 1,121 | $81K | 19.9% | 2.1% | 1% | C− |
| 2,334 | Hoxie KS | 1,188 | $67K | 8.6% | 0.6% | 38% | C− |
| 2,335 | Clear Lake WI | 1,100 | $74K | 17.3% | 5.3% | 11% | C− |
| 2,336 | New Haven Township MI | 1,049 | $70K | 10.5% | 3.2% | 4% | C− |
| 2,337 | Bigler Township PA | 1,211 | $61K | 9.4% | 5.2% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Clear Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Clear Lake and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Clear Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clear Lake | – | C− | C | 21 min | $74,000 |
| Black Brook | under 3% | B+ | D | 30 min | $102,963 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Clear 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 Clear Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Clear Lake?
$74,000 (±$10,270) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clear Lake?
17.3%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clear Lake?
21 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clear Lake work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Amery (12%, 6 mi), Turtle Lake (9%, 11 mi), Clayton (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clear Lake walkable?
Clear Lake is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clear Lake 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 Clear Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clear 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.