Photo: artistmac · CC BY-SA 2.0Earning a living in Kenosha
Kenosha grades B− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in four work in Kenosha; the top destination outside it is Pleasant Prairie (11%, 4 miles). The average commute takes 24 minutes each way; Wisconsin averages 22, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Income, poverty and work: Kenosha’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Kenosha is better than 52% of U.S. towns, #284 of 362 in Wisconsin. Job access by car holds Kenosha’s grade up (ahead of 82% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.7%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kenosha could be anywhere from C+ to B.
How a workday changes Kenosha
On a workday 33,395 residents head out to work, 13,681 work right here, and 25,700 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 (0.84 per resident).
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 employ Kenosha’s residents
Where Kenosha clocks in
11% of workers
5% 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.
The kinds of work in Kenosha
39,381 jobs are based in Kenosha.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kenosha, 2013 → 2023: 29,311 → 39,381. 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 Kenosha’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Kenosha: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kenosha workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 45,668 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.
How far it is to work from Kenosha
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.
The commute in Kenosha is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kenosha is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #88 of 362 in Wisconsin. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.7% 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 50,598 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 7% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 1% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 41% 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). 5.7% of Kenosha households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Kenosha’s commuters take a bus or train.
276th of 441: where Kenosha ranks among U.S. towns of 69,000 to 134,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| 3 | Bethesda MD | 69,397 | $192K | 4.3% | 3.1% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 116 | Waukesha WI | 70,872 | $84K | 9.8% | 2.7% | 20% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 156 | Appleton WI | 75,452 | $80K | 8.3% | 3.5% | 25% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 274 | Clearwater FL | 114,364 | $66K | 14.8% | 4.2% | 20% | B− |
| 275 | Perris CA | 83,237 | $89K | 10.7% | 7.9% | 9% | B− |
| 276 | Kenosha WI | 99,239 | $71K | 13.7% | 4.5% | 29% | B− |
| 277 | Idaho Falls ID | 71,785 | $73K | 11.5% | 4.2% | 54% | B− |
| 278 | Green Bay WI | 106,675 | $66K | 14.7% | 3.7% | 38% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 289 | Eau Claire WI | 72,465 | $67K | 14.3% | 3.4% | 50% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 441 | Flint MI | 79,306 | $38K | 34.1% | 14.8% | 20% | 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 Kenosha, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Work next door: 13% of Kenosha’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Kenosha workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kenosha | – | B− | B+ | 24 min | $71,239 |
| Pleasant Prairie | 11% | A− | B− | 25 min | $103,902 |
| Somers | 1% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Somers | 1% | B− | C+ | 25 min | $80,488 |
| Bristol | under 2% | A | B+ | 26 min | $123,648 |
| Paris | under 2% | A | C− | 22 min | $106,719 |
Same-state neighbors only. Somers: the same community as the village of that name, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Pleasant Prairie. Darker towns draw more of Kenosha’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 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 Kenosha: questions
What is the median household income in Kenosha?
$71,239 (±$3,567) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kenosha?
13.7%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kenosha?
24 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kenosha work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pleasant Prairie (11%, 4 mi), Racine (5%, 10 mi), Milwaukee (5%, 33 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kenosha walkable?
Kenosha is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kenosha without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 1% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kenosha, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kenosha
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.