Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Fox Lake works elsewhere
Fox Lake has 260 jobs, and 972 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Fox Lake is better than 76% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns (D). Only 3% stay in Fox Lake for work; outside it, Beaver Dam is the main destination (12%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Fox Lake
Fewer jobs are based in Fox Lake than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Fox Lake fell from 684 in 2014 to 260 in 2024, −62%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Fox Lake is a place people come home to
There are 260 jobs based in Fox Lake, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Fox Lake has about 1,800 people in it, 28% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 972 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Fox Lake’s Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Fox Lake’s grade up (3.5%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 41% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (1.0%) is left out: Fox Lake’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, Fox Lake could be anywhere from B to A−.
In Fox Lake, 37% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fox Lake, 2014 → 2024: 684 → 260. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fox Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Fox Lake for work, and who comes in
On a workday 939 residents head out to work, 33 work right here, and 227 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Fox Lake on a workday afternoon, 28% 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 2024, primary jobs.
The places Fox Lake commutes to
Where Fox Lake clocks in
12% of workers
9% of workers
6% 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 daily trip from Fox Lake: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fox Lake workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 636 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.
The distance from Fox Lake to work
About 23% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Driving is how Fox Lake gets around
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.8% across Wisconsin.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 741 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). 0.0% of Fox Lake households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fox Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Fox Lake ranks: 924th of 4,868 U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | North Prairie WI | 2,193 | $153K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 79 | Sun Prairie WI | 2,291 | $127K | 2.0% | 1.8% | 3% | A+ |
| 80 | Verona WI | 2,092 | $150K | 2.6% | 2.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 922 | Pittston Township PA | 3,295 | $69K | 6.1% | 2.1% | 9% | A− |
| 923 | Westford VT | 2,072 | $113K | 2.5% | 4.0% | 2% | A− |
| 924 | Fox Lake WI | 2,550 | $93K | 3.5% | 1.0% | 3% | A− |
| 925 | Stockton WI | 3,019 | $88K | 6.7% | 0.8% | 4% | A− |
| 926 | Santa Claus IN | 2,641 | $90K | 3.7% | 1.8% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 61% | 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 Fox Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
The towns around Fox Lake
The biggest share goes to Randolph (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fox Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fox Lake | – | A− | D | 25 min | $92,639 |
| Randolph | 2% | C+ | B+ | 27 min | $58,571 |
| Randolph | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Trenton | under 2% | A− | C+ | 24 min | $99,074 |
| Mackford | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Westford | under 2% | B | C | 23 min | $92,813 |
Same-state neighbors only. Randolph: the same community as the village of that name, graded once. Mackford: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fox Lake’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 2024, 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 Fox Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Fox Lake?
$92,639 (±$11,474) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fox Lake?
3.5%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fox Lake?
25 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fox Lake work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Beaver Dam (12%, 10 mi), Madison (9%, 42 mi), Fox Lake (6%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fox Lake walkable?
Fox Lake is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fox Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fox Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fox Lake
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.