Burnett County Abstract Company · Photo: Appraiser · CC BY-SA 3.0Grantsburg’s household incomes are lower than in 98% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D−: better than 3% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability A: more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns.
Working residents average 21 minutes each way (Wisconsin 22, U.S. 26). About one in four work in Grantsburg; the top destination outside it is Pine City (5%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Grantsburg
Grantsburg is where the jobs are
Grantsburg has 1,234 jobs, 2.3 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,100 people are in town, 51% more than the 1,400 who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Grantsburg workers cross into Minnesota
24% of Grantsburg workers work outside Wisconsin, the Census survey finds. In the commute data, Pine City (5%), Rush City (3%) and North Branch (2%) are among the top workplaces. 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; with 533 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Grantsburg’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Grantsburg is better than 3% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Grantsburg’s grade.
Unemployment (1.8%) is left out: Grantsburg’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, Grantsburg could be anywhere from D− to D.
Grantsburg fills up on a workday
On a workday 374 residents head out to work, 159 work right here, and 1,075 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Grantsburg on a workday afternoon, 51% more than live here.
2.3 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Grantsburg’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Grantsburg clocks in
Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Grantsburg makes things: 34% of its jobs are in goods
1,234 jobs are based in Grantsburg. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Grantsburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Grantsburg, 2013 → 2023: 1,116 → 1,234. 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.
About 21 minutes each way, about the WI average
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Grantsburg workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 555 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Wisconsin: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Half of Grantsburg commutes less than 17 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 27% 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.
Grantsburg is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Grantsburg is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 8.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 594 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). 6.8% of Grantsburg households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Grantsburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Grantsburg compares with U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Grantsburg, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Wind Point WI | 1,620 | $143K | 0.4% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,485 | Harrisville WV | 1,511 | $48K | 25.1% | 2.1% | 18% | D− |
| 5,486 | Ronceverte WV | 1,492 | $42K | 25.9% | 7.8% | 4% | D− |
| 5,487 | Grantsburg WI | 1,374 | $35K | 20.0% | 1.8% | 30% | D− |
| 5,488 | Posey Township IN | 1,872 | $43K | 23.7% | 0.0% | 1% | D− |
| 5,489 | Forest Township MI | 1,208 | $53K | 20.9% | 7.3% | 9% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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.
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 Grantsburg: questions
What is the median household income in Grantsburg?
$35,114 (±$8,870) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Grantsburg?
20.0%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Grantsburg?
21 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Grantsburg work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pine City (5%, 14 mi), Wood River (5%, 4 mi), St. Croix Falls (3%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Grantsburg walkable?
Grantsburg is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Grantsburg without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Grantsburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Grantsburg
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.