Jobs and earnings in De Soto, and the trip to work
5% of workers work from home, next to 13% for Wisconsin as a whole. Hardly any stay in De Soto for work; outside it, La Crosse is the main destination (36%, 27 miles). Working residents average 36 minutes each way; Wisconsin averages 22, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How a workday changes De Soto
On a workday 155 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 143 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 (0.92 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.
Where people from De Soto work
Where De Soto clocks in
36% 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 kinds of work in De Soto
144 jobs are based in De Soto.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in De Soto, 2013 → 2023: 69 → 144. 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 De Soto’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 36 minutes in De Soto
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of De Soto workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 206 commuters (the 5% 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 many miles De Soto commutes
About 24% 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.
Work in the towns next to De Soto
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | De Soto workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| De Soto | – | — | — | 36 min | $91,451 |
| Wheatland | under 2% | — | — | 34 min | — |
| Freeman | under 2% | — | — | 33 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Wheatland: the same community as the town of that name, graded once. Freeman: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of De Soto’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 De Soto: questions
What is the median household income in De Soto?
$91,451 (±$10,780) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in De Soto?
5.8%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from De Soto?
36 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in De Soto work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are La Crosse (36%, 27 mi), Viroqua (4%, 18 mi), Onalaska (4%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around De Soto without a car?
2% 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 De Soto, from the people who make the trip.
More of De Soto
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.