Photo: Corey Coyle · CC BY 3.0About half of Cottage Grove’s working residents commute to Madison
Measured by household income, Cottage Grove is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Cottage Grove is better than 73% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (C−). Poverty touches 3.0% of residents, where Wisconsin as a whole has 10.6%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Cottage Grove, in brief
Nearly half of Cottage Grove works in Madison
958 working residents, 47%, have their main job in Madison, 13 miles away across the town line. That’s 24 times as many as work in Cottage Grove itself. The commute map ↓
Cottage Grove makes and builds things
55% of the jobs based in Cottage Grove are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Cottage Grove residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 15%. The jobs ↓
Cottage Grove has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Cottage Grove went from 433 in 2014 to 711 in 2024, +64%. The jobs ↓
Cottage Grove empties out on a workday
About 2,400 people are in Cottage Grove on a workday afternoon, 36% fewer than the 3,700 who live here: 2,000 head out to work and 670 come in. Day and night ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Cottage Grove
The poverty rate holds Cottage Grove’s grade up; unemployment pulls it down (5.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cottage Grove could be anywhere from B− to A+.
The towns that employ Cottage Grove’s residents
Where Cottage Grove clocks in
47% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
Cottage Grove works in goods: 55% of its jobs
711 jobs are based in Cottage Grove.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cottage Grove, 2014 → 2024: 433 → 711. 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 Cottage Grove’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Cottage Grove
On a workday 1,987 residents head out to work, 39 work right here, and 672 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,400 people are in Cottage Grove on a workday afternoon, 36% fewer than live here.
0.35 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
How long Cottage Grove spends getting to work: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cottage Grove workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,561 commuters (the 15% 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 it is to work from Cottage Grove
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.
Most of Cottage Grove commutes by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.8% across Wisconsin.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,844 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). <1% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, <1% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 40% 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). 0.9% of Cottage Grove households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cottage Grove’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,318 U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,000, Cottage Grove comes 1,127th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Ottawa WI | 3,642 | $153K | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Jackson WI | 3,950 | $117K | 0.6% | 0.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Bristol WI | 4,347 | $141K | 1.2% | 0.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,125 | Rancho Viejo TX | 2,851 | $91K | 6.4% | 3.7% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,126 | Milan Township OH | 3,473 | $98K | 11.4% | 0.8% | 11% | B+ |
| 1,127 | Cottage Grove WI | 3,677 | $87K | 3.0% | 5.7% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,128 | Maugansville MD | 3,624 | $79K | 9.0% | 1.6% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,129 | Park Layne OH | 4,301 | $83K | 13.3% | 1.4% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,318 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Cottage Grove, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Cottage Grove and its neighbors: 47% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cottage Grove workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cottage Grove | – | B+ | C− | 26 min | $87,218 |
| Madison | 47% | A− | A+ | 19 min | $78,050 |
| McFarland | under 2% | A | B | 19 min | $97,500 |
| Sun Prairie | under 2% | A+ | D | 23 min | $127,321 |
| Deerfield | under 2% | A | B− | 23 min | $118,125 |
| Pleasant Springs | under 2% | A+ | B | 23 min | $119,273 |
| Medina | under 2% | A | B+ | 28 min | $99,750 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Madison. Darker towns draw more of Cottage Grove’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 Cottage Grove: questions
What is the median household income in Cottage Grove?
$87,218 (±$22,275) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cottage Grove?
3.0%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cottage Grove?
26 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cottage Grove work?
2% work in town.
Is Cottage Grove walkable?
Cottage Grove is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cottage Grove without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. <1% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cottage Grove, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cottage Grove
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. 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.