Main Street Historic District · Photo: Teemu08 · CC BY-SA 3.0There are 1.9 jobs in Lake Geneva for every working resident, and 5,893 people commute in
Lake Geneva grades B for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 6,684 jobs are based in Lake Geneva; 3,607 of its residents have a job. About one in five work in Lake Geneva itself; outside it, Elkhorn draws the most (6%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Lake Geneva: the figures worth knowing
Lake Geneva is where the jobs are
Lake Geneva has 6,684 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Lake Geneva draws workers from far and wide
The 6,684 jobs in Lake Geneva are filled from a wide area. Lake Geneva’s own residents hold 12% and the ten next-biggest home towns 29%; the other 59% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Lake Geneva: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lake Geneva is better than 56% of U.S. towns, #269 of 362 in Wisconsin. Job access by car holds Lake Geneva’s grade up (ahead of 71% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (10.7%, 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, Lake Geneva could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Lake Geneva on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,816 residents head out to work and 791 work right here.
About 12,000 people are in Lake Geneva on a workday afternoon, 35% more than live here.
1.9 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 2024, primary jobs.
Where Lake Geneva’s workforce comes from
Where Lake Geneva clocks in
6% of workers
5% of workers
3% 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 Lake Geneva’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Geneva, 2014 → 2024: 5,348 → 6,684. 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 Lake Geneva’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Lake Geneva, about 23 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Geneva workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,701 commuters (the 13% 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.
Miles to work from Lake Geneva
About 15% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Lake Geneva, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lake Geneva is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #44 of 362 in Wisconsin. Both inputs place Lake Geneva 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 4,262 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). 7.6% of Lake Geneva households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Lake Geneva’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Lake Geneva is 1,525th of 2,878 U.S. towns of 6,200 to 11,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 3 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Fox Point WI | 6,583 | $141K | 2.5% | 0.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Elm Grove WI | 6,354 | $158K | 4.4% | 0.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 41 | Waukesha WI | 8,507 | $131K | 3.0% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,523 | Fern Park FL | 7,981 | $59K | 12.5% | 3.4% | 2% | B |
| 1,524 | Denham Springs LA | 9,378 | $72K | 6.0% | 7.4% | 8% | B |
| 1,525 | Lake Geneva WI | 8,818 | $76K | 10.7% | 4.3% | 22% | B |
| 1,526 | Kaiminani HI | 11,465 | $111K | 9.8% | 3.8% | 25% | B |
| 1,527 | Clayton Township MI | 7,309 | $78K | 11.5% | 4.0% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | 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 Lake Geneva, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Lake Geneva and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Geneva (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake Geneva workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Geneva | – | B | A− | 23 min | $75,629 |
| Linn | under 2% | A | B | 27 min | $99,205 |
| Geneva | 3% | A | B− | 28 min | $96,154 |
| Lyons | 2% | B− | C− | 25 min | $83,919 |
| Bloomfield | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Bloomfield | under 2% | B+ | C− | 31 min | $98,068 |
Same-state neighbors only. Bloomfield: the same community as the town of that name, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lake Geneva’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 Lake Geneva: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Geneva?
$75,629 (±$3,685) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Geneva?
10.7%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Geneva?
23 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake Geneva work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Elkhorn (6%, 8 mi), Madison (5%, 62 mi), Milwaukee (3%, 41 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Lake Geneva walkable?
Lake Geneva is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Geneva without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Geneva, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake Geneva
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.