Lake Tomahawk has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
There are 96 jobs in Lake Tomahawk for 460 working residents. Lake Tomahawk grades C for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Only 3% stay in Lake Tomahawk for work; outside it, Minocqua is the main destination (20%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Lake Tomahawk
Lake Tomahawk and Minocqua trade workers both ways
Minocqua is the top workplace for Lake Tomahawk residents (20%) and also where the most people who work in Lake Tomahawk come from (23% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Lake Tomahawk is a place people come home to
There are 96 jobs based in Lake Tomahawk, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Lake Tomahawk has about 800 people in it, 31% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
38% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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; with 460 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Lake Tomahawk’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Lake Tomahawk is better than 30% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Lake Tomahawk’s grade up (7.9%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.2%) is left out: Lake Tomahawk’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Lake Tomahawk could be anywhere from D to B.
Where Lake Tomahawk goes to work
Where Lake Tomahawk clocks in
7% 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.
A workday in Lake Tomahawk: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 448 residents head out to work, 12 work right here, and 84 people come in from elsewhere.
About 800 people are in Lake Tomahawk on a workday afternoon, 31% fewer 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Lake Tomahawk
About 38% 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.
What Lake Tomahawk’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Tomahawk, 2013 → 2023: 77 → 96. 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 Lake Tomahawk’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Lake Tomahawk takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Tomahawk workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 379 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 Lake Tomahawk, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lake Tomahawk is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 423 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). 3.8% of Lake Tomahawk households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lake Tomahawk’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,390th of 4,312: where Lake Tomahawk ranks among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Big Bend WI | 1,498 | $135K | 3.2% | 0.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,388 | Caroga NY | 1,238 | $65K | 7.4% | 1.6% | 6% | C |
| 2,389 | Saline Township OH | 1,120 | $91K | 16.7% | 8.1% | 6% | C |
| 2,390 | Lake Tomahawk WI | 1,162 | $70K | 7.9% | 3.2% | 3% | C |
| 2,391 | Atwood IL | 1,100 | $62K | 9.4% | 5.5% | 2% | C |
| 2,392 | Grass Township IN | 1,120 | $55K | 9.2% | 2.3% | 4% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Tomahawk, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Lake Tomahawk
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake Tomahawk workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Tomahawk | – | C | C− | 24 min | $70,278 |
| Newbold | under 2% | B+ | C | 21 min | $75,847 |
| Cassian | under 2% | C | D | 33 min | $79,750 |
| Hazelhurst | 3% | B− | D | 22 min | $85,300 |
| Woodruff | 3% | B− | A− | 19 min | $81,827 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Hazelhurst. Darker towns draw more of Lake Tomahawk’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 Lake Tomahawk: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Tomahawk?
$70,278 (±$13,035) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Tomahawk?
7.9%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Tomahawk?
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 Lake Tomahawk work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Minocqua (20%, 14 mi), Rhinelander (7%, 13 mi), Lac du Flambeau (6%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lake Tomahawk walkable?
Lake Tomahawk is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Tomahawk without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Tomahawk, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake Tomahawk
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.