Elk Mound has 0.6 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Only 2% stay in Elk Mound for work; outside it, Eau Claire is the main destination (26%, 10 miles). Employers in Elk Mound report 282 jobs, against 500 working residents. Jobs and income earn Elk Mound C+; getting around on foot earns it C+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Elk Mound
The four measures behind Elk Mound’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Elk Mound is better than 37% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Elk Mound’s grade.
Unemployment (2.5%) is left out: Elk Mound’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Elk Mound could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Where the trip to work from Elk Mound ends
Where Elk Mound clocks in
Lines 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.
Who commutes out of Elk Mound, and who commutes in
On a workday 492 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 274 people come in from elsewhere.
About 870 people are in Elk Mound on a workday afternoon, 20% 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.
Most jobs in Elk Mound are in services
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elk Mound, 2013 → 2023: 222 → 282. 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 Elk Mound’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Elk Mound: about 21 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elk Mound workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 490 commuters (the 9% 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.
Half of Elk Mound commutes less than 12 miles
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.
In Elk Mound, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Elk Mound is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 5.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 539 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). 2.5% of Elk Mound households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Elk Mound’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Elk Mound ranks: 1,775th of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Big Bend WI | 1,498 | $135K | 3.2% | 0.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,773 | Belle Rose LA | 1,400 | $61K | 11.2% | 9.6% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,774 | Fulda MN | 1,303 | $71K | 7.3% | 2.5% | 9% | C+ |
| 1,775 | Elk Mound WI | 1,084 | $67K | 12.2% | 2.5% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,776 | Mountain View WY | 1,264 | $98K | 10.3% | 4.4% | 20% | C+ |
| 1,777 | Franklin Township IN | 1,293 | $59K | 5.0% | 1.4% | <1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Elk Mound, 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 Elk Mound: questions
What is the median household income in Elk Mound?
$66,875 (±$22,019) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elk Mound?
12.2%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elk Mound?
21 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elk Mound work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Eau Claire (26%, 10 mi), Menomonie (16%, 11 mi), Union (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Elk Mound walkable?
Elk Mound is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elk Mound 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 Elk Mound, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elk Mound
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.