Most of Decatur commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
Measured by household income, Decatur is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns. 180 jobs are based in Decatur, against 757 working residents. For jobs and income Decatur is better than 80% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (C).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Decatur in brief
Decatur is a place people come home to
There are 180 jobs based in Decatur, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Decatur has about 1,200 people in it, 33% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Decatur workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 29 minutes each way, against 22 across Wisconsin. Over a year that’s about 222 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical worker. 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 757 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Decatur’s Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Decatur’s grade up (5.0%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 46% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Decatur could be anywhere from B to A.
How many people are in Decatur by day
On a workday 747 residents head out to work, 10 work right here, and 170 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Decatur on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
From Decatur, about 29 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Decatur workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 879 commuters (the 12% 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.
18% of working residents work in Monroe
Where Decatur clocks in
18% of workers
17% of workers
9% 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.
A place that makes things: 55% of Decatur’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Decatur, 2013 → 2023: 143 → 180. 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 Decatur’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Decatur
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 Decatur, most people drive to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 4.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 997 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). 0.4% of Decatur households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Decatur’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400, Decatur ranks 734th of 6,085 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Wind Point WI | 1,620 | $143K | 0.4% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 732 | Ravenna Township MN | 2,282 | $131K | 1.6% | 5.5% | 1% | A− |
| 733 | Perry Township OH | 1,459 | $98K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A− |
| 734 | Decatur WI | 1,756 | $101K | 5.0% | 2.6% | 1% | A− |
| 735 | Long Beach MD | 1,849 | $127K | 1.3% | 0.0% | <1% | A− |
| 736 | North Utica IL | 1,334 | $104K | 4.7% | 5.4% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | 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 Decatur, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Work next door: 11% of Decatur’s workers
The biggest share goes to Brodhead (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Decatur workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decatur | – | A− | C | 29 min | $101,167 |
| Brodhead | 9% | C | C+ | 26 min | $49,583 |
| Sylvester | 2% | A− | D | 21 min | $111,375 |
| Albany | under 2% | — | — | 32 min | — |
| Spring Grove | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Spring Valley | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Albany and Spring Valley: the same communities as the places of those names, graded once. Spring Grove: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Decatur’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 Decatur: questions
What is the median household income in Decatur?
$101,167 (±$6,216) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Decatur?
5.0%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Decatur?
29 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Decatur work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Monroe (18%, 11 mi), Madison (17%, 31 mi), Brodhead (9%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Decatur walkable?
Decatur is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Decatur without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and <1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Decatur, from the people who make the trip.
More of Decatur
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.