Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Janesville at work: jobs, income and the commute
About two in five stay in Janesville for work; outside it, Madison is the main destination (9%, 35 miles). The two grades for Janesville are B for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 4.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 12.9 in Milwaukee.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Janesville: the figures worth knowing
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Janesville
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Janesville is better than 60% of U.S. towns, #260 of 362 in Wisconsin. Job access by car holds Janesville’s grade up (ahead of 71% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($73,446, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Janesville could be anywhere from B− to B+.
How far Janesville goes to work
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.
The daily commute in and out of Janesville
On a workday 18,531 residents head out to work, 12,111 work right here, and 21,253 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 (1.09 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.
Commuting out of Janesville: the destinations
Where Janesville clocks in
9% of workers
6% of workers
2% 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 kinds of work in Janesville
33,364 jobs are based in Janesville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Janesville, 2014 → 2024: 30,366 → 33,364. 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 Janesville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes each way for Janesville’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Janesville workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 30,190 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.
In Janesville, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Janesville is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #59 of 362 in Wisconsin. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.4% 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 33,359 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 90% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 34% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 80% 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). 5.9% of Janesville households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Janesville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Janesville is 374th among 648 U.S. towns of 47,000 to 90,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Wauwatosa WI | 48,649 | $101K | 5.8% | 2.1% | 17% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 211 | Waukesha WI | 70,872 | $84K | 9.8% | 2.7% | 20% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 265 | Appleton WI | 75,452 | $80K | 8.3% | 3.5% | 25% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 372 | Azusa CA | 47,447 | $91K | 13.2% | 6.1% | 7% | B |
| 373 | Citrus Heights CA | 86,348 | $82K | 8.6% | 6.7% | 5% | B |
| 374 | Janesville WI | 66,929 | $73K | 9.0% | 4.1% | 40% | B |
| 375 | Perry Township IN | 52,290 | $67K | 21.4% | 5.1% | 19% | B |
| 376 | Middletown CT | 48,439 | $79K | 12.0% | 4.7% | 17% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 648 | Pahrump NV | 47,347 | $62K | 13.7% | 8.5% | 27% | 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 Janesville, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Janesville and its neighbors
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Janesville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Janesville | – | B | A− | 22 min | $73,446 |
| Harmony | under 2% | A | C+ | 25 min | $122,852 |
| Rock | under 2% | B | C | 24 min | $71,065 |
| La Prairie | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. La Prairie: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Janesville’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 Janesville: questions
What is the median household income in Janesville?
$73,446 (±$3,826) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Janesville?
9.0%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Janesville?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Janesville work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison (9%, 35 mi), Beloit (6%, 11 mi), Milton (2%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Janesville walkable?
Janesville is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 12.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Janesville without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 34% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Janesville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Janesville
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.