Photo: Bohao Zhao · CC BY 3.0La Crosse has 2.1 jobs for every working resident: 32,859 people commute in to work
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 5.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 12.9 in Milwaukee. La Crosse has 44,511 jobs, against 21,673 working residents. The two grades for La Crosse are C+ for jobs and income and A+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from La Crosse, in brief
La Crosse is where the jobs are
La Crosse has 44,511 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 74,000 people are in town, 45% more than the 51,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from La Crosse are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 22 across Wisconsin. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Wisconsin worker. Time on the road ↓
A young workforce
31% of La Crosse’s working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
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.
Where La Crosse’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On family income, poverty and job access, La Crosse is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #308 of 362 in Wisconsin. Job access by car holds La Crosse’s grade up (ahead of 69% of U.S. towns); family income pulls it down ($78,742, U.S. $99,999).
22% of La Crosse’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (17% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 12.7%, against 21.4% for all residents. Unemployment (3.7%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($78,742), since student households pull the household median down ($55,866).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, La Crosse could be anywhere from C+ to B−.
A workday in La Crosse: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 10,021 residents head out to work and 11,652 work right here.
About 74,000 people are in La Crosse on a workday afternoon, 45% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Time on the road from La Crosse: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of La Crosse workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 24,361 commuters (the 12% 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.
What La Crosse’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in La Crosse, 2013 → 2023: 42,122 → 44,511. 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 La Crosse’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who travels to work in La Crosse, and from where
Where La Crosse clocks in
2% 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.
How far La Crosse’s workers travel
About 21% 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.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
La Crosse 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, La Crosse is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns, #3 of 362 in Wisconsin. Both inputs place La Crosse near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 27,638 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 94% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 77% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 5.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 84% 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). 9.8% of La Crosse households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of La Crosse’s commuters take a bus or train.
La Crosse places 625th of 846 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 36,000 to 69,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Oakton VA | 36,528 | $161K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Brookfield WI | 41,448 | $130K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | New Berlin WI | 39,953 | $101K | 4.1% | 2.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Oak Creek WI | 38,296 | $97K | 4.9% | 1.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 623 | Harrisonburg VA | 50,839 | $62K | 25.7% | 6.9% | 36% | C+ |
| 624 | Colton CA | 53,383 | $71K | 13.7% | 7.5% | 6% | C+ |
| 625 | La Crosse WI | 50,784 | $56K | 21.4% | 3.7% | 54% | C+ |
| 626 | Newark OH | 51,473 | $62K | 17.1% | 3.8% | 24% | C+ |
| 627 | National City CA | 57,807 | $67K | 14.6% | 6.6% | 9% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 846 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 La Crosse, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
12% of La Crosse works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Onalaska (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | La Crosse workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Crosse | – | C+ | A+ | 16 min | $55,866 |
| Shelby | under 1% | A | B | 20 min | $110,341 |
| Medary | under 1% | A | C+ | 22 min | $105,114 |
| Campbell | 1% | C− | A− | 15 min | $60,202 |
| French Island | under 1% | — | — | 15 min | — |
| Onalaska | 10% | B+ | B | 17 min | $85,867 |
| Onalaska | 1% | A | C− | 21 min | $106,700 |
Same-state neighbors only. French Island: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of La Crosse’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.
- Students. 22% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in La Crosse: questions
What is the median household income in La Crosse?
$55,866 (±$3,428) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in La Crosse?
21.4% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 12.7%. Wisconsin: 10.6%.
How long is the commute from La Crosse?
16 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in La Crosse work?
54% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Onalaska (10%, 5 mi), Madison (2%, 103 mi), West Salem (2%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is La Crosse walkable?
La Crosse is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.4 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around La Crosse without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 77% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from La Crosse, from the people who make the trip.
More of La Crosse
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.