Photo: self · CC BY-SA 2.5Deerfield has lower unemployment (0.4%) than 98% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Deerfield A; getting around on foot earns it C. Only 7% work in Deerfield itself; outside it, Madison draws the most (39%, 18 miles). Working residents average 24 minutes each way (Wisconsin 22, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Deerfield
Deerfield trades workers with the towns around it
Deerfield has about as many jobs (1,241) as working residents (1,261), but they are mostly different people: 1,173 residents leave for work each day while 1,153 people come in. Only 7% of the jobs in Deerfield are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Deerfield makes and builds things
54% of the jobs based in Deerfield are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Deerfield residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 21%. The jobs ↓
39% of Deerfield works in Madison
493 working residents, 39%, have their main job in Madison, 18 miles away. That’s 6 times as many as work in Deerfield 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.
The figures behind Deerfield’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Deerfield is better than 93% of U.S. towns, #81 of 362 in Wisconsin. Unemployment is its strongest input; household income ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns ($91,029, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Deerfield could be anywhere from A− to A+.
How a workday changes Deerfield
On a workday 1,173 residents head out to work, 88 work right here, and 1,153 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 (0.98 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.
Making and building: 54% of jobs based in Deerfield
1,241 jobs are based in Deerfield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Deerfield, 2013 → 2023: 1,148 → 1,241. 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 Deerfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where people from Deerfield work
Where Deerfield clocks in
39% of workers
4% 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 commute of about 24 minutes in Deerfield
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Deerfield workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,132 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Deerfield
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.
Few in Deerfield walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Deerfield is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns, #254 of 362 in Wisconsin. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 5.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,319 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). 1.3% of Deerfield households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Deerfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Deerfield places 266th of 5,083 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | North Prairie WI | 2,193 | $153K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 85 | Sun Prairie WI | 2,291 | $127K | 2.0% | 1.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 86 | Verona WI | 2,092 | $150K | 2.6% | 2.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 264 | Lauderdale MN | 2,328 | $79K | 7.3% | 9.1% | 1% | A |
| 265 | Union Township OH | 2,005 | $108K | 1.6% | 1.7% | 2% | A |
| 266 | Deerfield WI | 2,619 | $91K | 3.9% | 0.4% | 7% | A |
| 267 | Harmony WI | 2,608 | $123K | 3.8% | 2.5% | 1% | A |
| 268 | Barton WI | 2,769 | $120K | 6.1% | 1.5% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Deerfield, 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 Deerfield: questions
What is the median household income in Deerfield?
$91,029 (±$21,528) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Deerfield?
3.9%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Deerfield?
24 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Deerfield work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison (39%, 18 mi), Sun Prairie (4%, 12 mi), Cambridge (4%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Deerfield walkable?
Deerfield is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Deerfield 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 Deerfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Deerfield
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.