Photo: Scott Catron · CC BY-SA 4.0How Fort Atkinson works: jobs, income and commuting
Fort Atkinson grades B for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in four work in Fort Atkinson itself; outside it, Jefferson draws the most (7%, 7 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 20 minutes, next to 22 for Wisconsin and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs & income in Fort Atkinson: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Atkinson is better than 65% of U.S. towns, #244 of 362 in Wisconsin. The poverty rate holds Fort Atkinson’s grade up (6.7%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down (4.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Atkinson could be anywhere from B− to A.
Who leaves Fort Atkinson for work, and who comes in
On a workday 4,457 residents head out to work, 1,756 work right here, and 5,832 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Fort Atkinson on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.22 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.
Commuting out of Fort Atkinson: the destinations
Where Fort Atkinson clocks in
7% of workers
6% 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.
The 7,588 jobs based in Fort Atkinson
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Atkinson, 2013 → 2023: 7,778 → 7,588. 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 Fort Atkinson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 20 minutes to work from Fort Atkinson
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Atkinson workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,164 commuters (the 10% 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 far Fort Atkinson’s workers travel
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 Fort Atkinson, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Atkinson is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns, #63 of 362 in Wisconsin. Both inputs place Fort Atkinson 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 6,829 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). 6.4% of Fort Atkinson households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Fort Atkinson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Fort Atkinson is 1,123rd of 2,354 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Greenville WI | 13,388 | $118K | 1.7% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Whitefish Bay WI | 14,489 | $157K | 3.7% | 2.6% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Verona WI | 16,821 | $120K | 1.4% | 1.6% | 21% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,121 | Sonterra TX | 10,563 | $92K | 10.4% | 4.5% | 2% | B |
| 1,122 | Boone IA | 12,471 | $69K | 8.3% | 2.0% | 25% | B |
| 1,123 | Fort Atkinson WI | 12,388 | $79K | 6.7% | 4.5% | 28% | B |
| 1,124 | Union Township IN | 9,193 | $76K | 4.9% | 4.9% | 4% | B |
| 1,125 | Emeryville CA | 13,251 | $117K | 13.8% | 6.4% | 8% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Fort Atkinson, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Fort Atkinson
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fort Atkinson workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Atkinson | – | B | A− | 20 min | $79,302 |
| Koshkonong | under 2% | A | C− | 19 min | $102,831 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fort Atkinson’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 Fort Atkinson: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Atkinson?
$79,302 (±$8,042) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Atkinson?
6.7%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Atkinson?
20 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Atkinson work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jefferson (7%, 7 mi), Madison (6%, 31 mi), Whitewater (4%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fort Atkinson walkable?
Fort Atkinson is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Atkinson without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Atkinson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Atkinson
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.