Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0Cross Plains has higher household incomes than 96% of U.S. towns
Only 1% work in Cross Plains; the top destination outside it is Madison (35%, 12 miles). 2.8% of residents live below the poverty line (Wisconsin 10.6%). Jobs and income earn Cross Plains A+; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Cross Plains and work: the main findings
Cross Plains is a place people come home to
There are 122 jobs based in Cross Plains, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Cross Plains has about 800 people in it, 45% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
One in three of Cross Plains works in Madison
272 working residents, 35%, have their main job in Madison, 12 miles away. That’s 35 times as many as work in Cross Plains itself. The commute map ↓
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 778 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Cross Plains: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Cross Plains is better than 98% of U.S. towns. Household income is its strongest input ($162,000, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 72% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (1.9%) is left out: Cross Plains’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, Cross Plains could be anywhere from A to A+.
Cross Plains by day and by night
On a workday 769 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 113 people come in from elsewhere.
About 800 people are in Cross Plains on a workday afternoon, 45% fewer than live here.
0.16 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 2023, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Cross Plains’ residents
Where Cross Plains clocks in
35% of workers
8% of workers
5% 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.
In Cross Plains, 43% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
122 jobs are based in Cross Plains.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cross Plains, 2013 → 2023: 94 → 122. 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 Cross Plains’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 23 minutes each way, about the WI average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cross Plains workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 794 commuters (the 14% 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.
Where in the region Cross Plains works
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.
Most of Cross Plains commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cross Plains is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 4.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 928 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). 1.1% of Cross Plains households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cross Plains’ commuters take a bus or train.
102nd of 6,308: where Cross Plains ranks among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Wind Point WI | 1,620 | $143K | 0.4% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | McMillin WA | 1,348 | $141K | 2.3% | 4.0% | 1% | A+ |
| 101 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| 102 | Cross Plains WI | 1,453 | $162K | 2.8% | 1.9% | 1% | A+ |
| 103 | Coldstream KY | 1,325 | $109K | 2.8% | 0.8% | <1% | A+ |
| 104 | Arden on the Severn MD | 1,761 | $125K | 0.0% | 2.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | 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 Cross Plains, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Cross Plains
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cross Plains workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cross Plains | – | A+ | C | 23 min | $162,000 |
| Middleton | under 2% | A+ | C | 20 min | $203,646 |
| Berry | under 2% | A− | C+ | 23 min | $83,750 |
| Vermont | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Springdale | under 2% | A | C− | 20 min | $129,271 |
Same-state neighbors only. Vermont: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cross Plains’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 Cross Plains: questions
What is the median household income in Cross Plains?
$162,000 (±$26,229) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cross Plains?
2.8%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cross Plains?
23 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cross Plains work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison (35%, 12 mi), Middleton (8%, 8 mi), Cross Plains (5%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cross Plains walkable?
Cross Plains is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.6 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cross Plains without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cross Plains, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cross Plains
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.