Most of Garfield commutes out: there are 0.1 jobs for every working resident
Jobs and income earn Garfield B+; getting around on foot earns it C. Employers in Garfield report 121 jobs; 919 of its residents have a job. Measured by household income, Garfield is ahead of 76% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Garfield stands out on work
Garfield is a place people come home to
There are 121 jobs based in Garfield, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Garfield has about 980 people in it, 45% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Garfield workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 32 minutes each way, against 22 across Wisconsin. Over a year that’s about 245 hours of commuting, 77 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 919 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Garfield
On income, poverty and job access, Garfield is better than 67% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Garfield’s grade up (4.5%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (0.8%) is left out: Garfield’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, Garfield could be anywhere from B to A−.
How many people are in Garfield by day
On a workday 897 residents head out to work, 22 work right here, and 99 people come in from elsewhere.
About 980 people are in Garfield on a workday afternoon, 45% 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.
A commute of about 32 minutes in Garfield
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Garfield workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 766 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.
6% of working residents work in St. Croix Falls
Where Garfield clocks in
6% 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.
Goods, not services: 50% of the jobs in Garfield
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Garfield, 2014 → 2024: 106 → 121. 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 Garfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Garfield goes to work
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most of Garfield commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Garfield is more walkable than 27% 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 3.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 887 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). 2.1% of Garfield households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Garfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Garfield ranks: 1,368th of 6,085 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 2% | 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% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,366 | Perry Township PA | 1,809 | $87K | 7.7% | 6.1% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,367 | Plumcreek Township PA | 2,041 | $88K | 4.2% | 3.3% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,368 | Garfield WI | 1,775 | $99K | 4.5% | 0.8% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,369 | Patterson Tract CA | 2,090 | $96K | 10.3% | 7.6% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,370 | Mowbray Mountain TN | 1,721 | $93K | 8.0% | 1.2% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Garfield, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Garfield
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Garfield workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garfield | – | B+ | C | 32 min | $98,889 |
| Osceola | under 3% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Alden | under 3% | B+ | C+ | 34 min | $94,878 |
| Lincoln | under 3% | A− | D | 28 min | $95,826 |
Same-state neighbors only. Osceola: the same community as the town of that name, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Garfield’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 Garfield: questions
What is the median household income in Garfield?
$98,889 (±$9,178) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Garfield?
4.5%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Garfield?
32 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Garfield work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Croix Falls (6%, 8 mi), Osceola (6%, 10 mi), Amery (6%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Garfield walkable?
Garfield is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 3.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Garfield 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 Garfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Garfield
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.