Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Dale earn more than those in 90% of U.S. towns
3.0% of residents are in poverty, where Wisconsin as a whole has 10.6%. Jobs and income earn Dale A; getting around on foot earns it D. Only 1% stay in Dale for work; outside it, Appleton is the main destination (14%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Dale stands out on work
Dale is a place people come home to
There are 360 jobs based in Dale, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Dale has about 1,800 people in it, 38% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Dale makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Dale are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Dale residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 29%. The jobs ↓
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.
The four measures behind Dale’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dale is better than 94% of U.S. towns, #64 of 362 in Wisconsin. The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 59% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dale could be anywhere from A− to A+.
How many people are in Dale by day
On a workday 1,449 residents head out to work, 22 work right here, and 338 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Dale on a workday afternoon, 38% fewer than live here.
0.24 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.
Dale makes things: 36% of its jobs are in goods
360 jobs are based in Dale.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dale, 2013 → 2023: 325 → 360. 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 Dale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that employ Dale’s residents
Where Dale clocks in
14% of workers
11% 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.
The daily trip from Dale: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dale workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,480 commuters (the 10% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Dale
About 15% 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.
In Dale, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dale is more walkable than 13% of U.S. towns, #341 of 362 in Wisconsin. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 4.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,651 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). 2.1% of Dale households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Dale’s commuters take a bus or train.
229th of 4,882: where Dale ranks among U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Ottawa WI | 3,642 | $153K | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | North Prairie WI | 2,193 | $153K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 68 | Center WI | 3,706 | $115K | 1.6% | 0.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 227 | Oakland FL | 3,774 | $152K | 7.2% | 1.6% | 2% | A |
| 228 | Washington Township OH | 2,989 | $121K | 4.1% | 1.1% | 3% | A |
| 229 | Dale WI | 2,902 | $126K | 3.0% | 1.6% | 1% | A |
| 230 | Pleasant Hills MD | 3,836 | $166K | 2.1% | 3.6% | 5% | A |
| 231 | Chester Heights PA | 3,183 | $104K | 5.3% | 2.2% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,882 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Dale, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Dale and its neighbors: 10% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dale workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dale | – | A | D | 22 min | $126,250 |
| Greenville | 10% | A+ | C | 20 min | $117,977 |
| Caledonia | under 3% | B+ | C | 28 min | $109,167 |
| Hortonia | under 3% | A− | C− | 30 min | $102,813 |
| Clayton | under 3% | A+ | C+ | 25 min | $133,731 |
| Winchester | under 3% | A | C | 22 min | $93,295 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Greenville. Darker towns draw more of Dale’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 Dale: questions
What is the median household income in Dale?
$126,250 (±$21,327) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dale?
3.0%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dale?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dale work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Appleton (14%, 15 mi), Grand Chute (11%, 11 mi), Greenville (10%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dale walkable?
Dale is more walkable than 13% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dale without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dale
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.