Richardson-Brinkman Cobblestone House · Photo: Sa magnuson33 · CC BY-SA 3.0Jobs and the daily commute in Clinton
6% of workers work from home; Wisconsin has 13%. Jobs and income earn Clinton B+; getting around on foot earns it B−. About one in seven stay in Clinton for work; outside it, Janesville is the main destination (12%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Inside Clinton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Clinton is better than 69% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Clinton’s grade up (5.9%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($72,019, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (4.2%) is left out: Clinton’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, Clinton could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Clinton by day and by night
On a workday 845 residents head out to work, 149 work right here, and 1,049 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.21 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Clinton ends
Where Clinton clocks in
12% of workers
11% of workers
10% 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.
32% of the jobs in Clinton make or build things
1,198 jobs are based in Clinton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clinton, 2013 → 2023: 1,159 → 1,198. 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 Clinton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Clinton spends getting to work: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clinton workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 886 commuters (the 6% 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.
How far Clinton goes to work
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.
The commute in Clinton is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clinton is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Clinton 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 940 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.1% of Clinton households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Clinton’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,347th of 5,552: where Clinton ranks among U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Wind Point WI | 1,620 | $143K | 0.4% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 39 | North Prairie WI | 2,193 | $153K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Vandenbroek WI | 1,701 | $129K | 1.6% | 5.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,345 | Woodacre CA | 1,627 | $232K | 9.0% | 2.8% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,346 | Needville TX | 3,114 | $71K | 14.7% | 0.8% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,347 | Clinton WI | 2,336 | $72K | 5.9% | 4.2% | 15% | B+ |
| 1,348 | Summerfield Township MI | 3,195 | $93K | 14.5% | 2.3% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,349 | Lake View Township MN | 1,794 | $87K | 4.9% | 2.0% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,552 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Clinton, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
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 Clinton: questions
What is the median household income in Clinton?
$72,019 (±$8,308) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clinton?
5.9%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clinton?
25 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clinton work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Janesville (12%, 12 mi), Madison (11%, 46 mi), Beloit (10%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clinton walkable?
Clinton is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clinton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clinton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clinton
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.