Photo: Praiawart · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Darien trail those of 69% of U.S. towns
2% of workers work from home, next to 13% for Wisconsin as a whole. 9.6% of residents live below the poverty line, against 10.6% across Wisconsin. The two grades for Darien are B− for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Darien
Darien makes and builds things
56% of the jobs based in Darien are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Darien residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 33%. The jobs ↓
Few Darien workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 13% across Wisconsin. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 813 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Darien
On income, poverty and job access, Darien is better than 51% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Darien’s grade up (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($63,194, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (5.7%) is left out: Darien’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Darien could be anywhere from C− to A.
Making and building: 56% of jobs based in Darien
983 jobs are based in Darien.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Darien, 2013 → 2023: 1,012 → 983. 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 Darien’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Darien takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Darien workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 514 commuters (the 2% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Darien
On a workday 774 residents head out to work, 39 work right here, and 944 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Darien on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
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.
12% of working residents work in Delavan
Where Darien clocks in
12% of workers
7% of workers
6% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Darien
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 trips from Darien start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Darien is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Darien 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 522 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). 1.6% of Darien households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Darien’s commuters take a bus or train.
Darien is 2,063rd of 5,794 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 47 | Wind Point WI | 1,620 | $143K | 0.4% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,061 | Carrington ND | 1,950 | $77K | 9.7% | 1.4% | 45% | B− |
| 2,062 | LaCoste TX | 1,255 | $69K | 13.8% | 0.0% | 1% | B− |
| 2,063 | Darien WI | 1,530 | $63K | 9.6% | 5.7% | 5% | B− |
| 2,064 | Irvington Township IL | 1,150 | $72K | 5.5% | 6.8% | 3% | B− |
| 2,065 | Marion Township IN | 1,425 | $80K | 7.4% | 15.7% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Darien, 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 Darien: questions
What is the median household income in Darien?
$63,194 (±$20,129) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Darien?
9.6%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Darien?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Darien work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Delavan (12%, 5 mi), Elkhorn (7%, 10 mi), Darien (6%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Darien walkable?
Darien is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 4.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Darien 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 Darien, from the people who make the trip.
More of Darien
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.