Photo: Gkowalski · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer people are out of work in Hales Corners (2.3%) than in 80% of U.S. towns
Only 4% work in Hales Corners itself; outside it, Milwaukee draws the most (25%, 9 miles). Hales Corners grades A for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Working residents average 23 minutes each way; Wisconsin averages 22, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Hales Corners: the gist
Hales Corners and Milwaukee trade workers both ways
Milwaukee is the top workplace for Hales Corners residents (25%) and also where the most people who work in Hales Corners come from (21% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Hales Corners
68% of Hales Corners residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 45% of the jobs based in Hales Corners pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 96% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Most Hales Corners residents work close to home
60% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. Only 8% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Hales Corners
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hales Corners is better than 94% of U.S. towns, #69 of 362 in Wisconsin. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 93% of U.S. towns); household income ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns ($87,740, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hales Corners could be anywhere from A− to A+.
The places Hales Corners commutes to
Where Hales Corners clocks in
25% of workers
7% of workers
5% 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.
What Hales Corners’ employers do
3,111 jobs are based in Hales Corners.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hales Corners, 2014 → 2024: 2,575 → 3,111. 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 Hales Corners’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Hales Corners commutes less than 9 miles
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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 3,650 residents head out to work, 159 work right here, and 2,952 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.82 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
About 23 minutes each way for Hales Corners’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hales Corners workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,591 commuters (the 11% 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.
Hales Corners 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, Hales Corners is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #38 of 362 in Wisconsin. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.7% of 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 4,023 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.6% of Hales Corners households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Hales Corners’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Hales Corners is 264th among 3,051 U.S. towns of 5,400 to 10,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Fox Point WI | 6,583 | $141K | 2.5% | 0.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Elm Grove WI | 6,354 | $158K | 4.4% | 0.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Waukesha WI | 8,507 | $131K | 3.0% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 262 | Granville OH | 6,252 | $124K | 2.7% | 2.9% | 12% | A |
| 263 | Maidencreek Township PA | 9,309 | $112K | 4.9% | 2.1% | 3% | A |
| 264 | Hales Corners WI | 7,740 | $88K | 3.5% | 2.3% | 4% | A |
| 265 | Southampton MA | 6,085 | $123K | 2.6% | 2.5% | 9% | A |
| 266 | Litchfield NH | 8,704 | $162K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,051 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Hales Corners, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
12% of Hales Corners works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to New Berlin (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hales Corners workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hales Corners | – | A | A− | 23 min | $87,740 |
| Greenfield | 4% | A− | B+ | 22 min | $70,459 |
| Greendale | under 3% | A | B | 23 min | $94,769 |
| Franklin | 3% | A | B− | 23 min | $106,894 |
| New Berlin | 5% | A+ | C | 22 min | $101,091 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hales Corners’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 Hales Corners: questions
What is the median household income in Hales Corners?
$87,740 (±$8,777) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hales Corners?
3.5%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hales Corners?
23 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hales Corners work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Milwaukee (25%, 9 mi), Wauwatosa (7%, 8 mi), West Allis (5%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Hales Corners walkable?
Hales Corners is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 10.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hales Corners without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hales Corners, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hales Corners
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.