Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0Earning a living in Juneau
Jobs and income earn Juneau B−; getting around on foot earns it C+. 5% of workers have no commute at all; Wisconsin has 13%. About one in seven work in Juneau itself; outside it, Beaver Dam draws the most (8%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Juneau, in a few figures
The figures behind Juneau’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Juneau is better than 47% of U.S. towns, #300 of 362 in Wisconsin. Job access by car holds Juneau’s grade up (ahead of 58% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Juneau could be anywhere from C− to A−.
In and out of Juneau on a workday
On a workday 1,058 residents head out to work, 149 work right here, and 1,731 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,400 people are in Juneau on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
1.6 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.
The towns that send workers to Juneau
Where Juneau clocks in
8% of workers
7% 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: 29% of the jobs in Juneau
1,880 jobs are based in Juneau.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Juneau, 2013 → 2023: 1,732 → 1,880. 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.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Juneau’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes to work from Juneau
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Juneau workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,251 commuters (the 5% 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.
How many miles Juneau commutes
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
For most of Juneau, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Juneau is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns, #200 of 362 in Wisconsin. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% 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 1,311 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). 0.7% of Juneau households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Juneau’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,474th of 4,969: where Juneau ranks among U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,700
| # | 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% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Ottawa WI | 3,642 | $153K | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | North Prairie WI | 2,193 | $153K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Sun Prairie WI | 2,291 | $127K | 2.0% | 1.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,472 | Middletown NY | 3,250 | $78K | 11.8% | 0.9% | 35% | B− |
| 2,473 | River Bend NC | 2,890 | $72K | 8.2% | 4.3% | 5% | B− |
| 2,474 | Juneau WI | 2,706 | $78K | 13.1% | 4.6% | 12% | B− |
| 2,475 | Stockport NY | 2,562 | $99K | 7.1% | 6.4% | 4% | B− |
| 2,476 | Williston Highlands FL | 3,666 | $80K | 8.3% | 3.5% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,969 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Juneau, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
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 Juneau: questions
What is the median household income in Juneau?
$77,708 (±$14,728) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Juneau?
13.1%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Juneau?
24 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Juneau work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Beaver Dam (8%, 8 mi), Horicon (7%, 4 mi), Madison (6%, 43 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Juneau walkable?
Juneau is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Juneau without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Juneau, from the people who make the trip.
More of Juneau
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.