Photo: w_lemay · CC BY-SA 2.0More people are out of work in Columbus (4.9%) than in 60% of U.S. towns
Columbus grades B for jobs and income and B for walkability. About one in seven stay in Columbus for work; outside it, Madison is the main destination (26%, 26 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 24 minutes; Wisconsin averages 22, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Columbus and work: the main findings
How Columbus earns its Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Columbus’ grade up (6.9%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Columbus could be anywhere from C to A.
How far Columbus’ workers travel
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.
Who works in Columbus, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 2,505 residents head out to work, 462 work right here, and 2,032 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 (0.84 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.
Out of Columbus to work: where people go
Where Columbus clocks in
26% of workers
3% 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.
Goods jobs make up 30% of work in Columbus
2,494 jobs are based in Columbus.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Columbus, 2013 → 2023: 2,114 → 2,494. 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 Columbus’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes each way for Columbus’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Columbus workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,594 commuters (the 18% 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.
In Columbus, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Columbus is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns, #123 of 362 in Wisconsin. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 6.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,176 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). 7.9% of Columbus households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Columbus’ commuters take a bus or train.
Columbus next to U.S. towns of 3,800 to 7,300: 1,577th of 3,541 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Fox Point WI | 6,583 | $141K | 2.5% | 0.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Elm Grove WI | 6,354 | $158K | 4.4% | 0.7% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Jackson WI | 3,950 | $117K | 0.6% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,575 | DeMotte IN | 4,384 | $70K | 8.4% | 1.8% | 14% | B |
| 1,576 | Littlestown PA | 4,895 | $71K | 12.7% | 0.3% | 7% | B |
| 1,577 | Columbus WI | 5,400 | $75K | 6.9% | 4.9% | 16% | B |
| 1,578 | Boone Township IN | 6,149 | $75K | 5.9% | 4.9% | 5% | B |
| 1,579 | Almont Township MI | 7,103 | $92K | 6.2% | 6.3% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,541 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Columbus, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Columbus and its neighbors
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Columbus’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 Columbus: questions
What is the median household income in Columbus?
$75,427 (±$12,770) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Columbus?
6.9%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Columbus?
24 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Columbus work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison (26%, 26 mi), Sun Prairie (6%, 15 mi), Fall River (3%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Columbus walkable?
Columbus is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Columbus without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Columbus, from the people who make the trip.
More of Columbus
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.