Camp Five Farmstead · Photo: Jeff the quiet · CC0Households in Laona earn less than those in 69% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 18.9% of residents, where Wisconsin as a whole has 10.6%. The two grades for Laona are D for jobs and income and C− for walkability. About one in ten work in Laona; the top destination outside it is Lincoln (14%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Laona in brief
A lot of Laona works one town over
26% of working residents work in a town that borders Laona: Lincoln (14%) and Wabeno (12%). Next door ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% 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 ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Laona than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Laona fell from 393 in 2013 to 288 in 2023, −27%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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; with 473 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Laona
On income, poverty and job access, Laona is better than 8% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Laona’s grade up ($63,281, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.8%) is left out: Laona’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Laona could be anywhere from D− to C−.
How far it is to work from Laona
About 32% 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.
34% of the jobs in Laona make or build things
288 jobs are based in Laona.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Laona, 2013 → 2023: 393 → 288. 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 Laona’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Laona, and who commutes in
On a workday 429 residents head out to work, 44 work right here, and 244 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Laona on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.61 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Where the trip to work from Laona ends
Where Laona clocks in
12% 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 commute of about 23 minutes in Laona
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Laona workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 510 commuters (the 6% 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 Laona, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Laona is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Laona 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 544 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). 4.3% of Laona households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Laona’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Laona is 4,194th of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Wind Point WI | 1,620 | $143K | 0.4% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,192 | Franklin Township OH | 1,051 | $66K | 20.8% | 12.9% | 4% | D |
| 4,193 | Huntington Township OH | 1,433 | $55K | 15.9% | 5.2% | 2% | D |
| 4,194 | Laona WI | 1,238 | $63K | 18.9% | 1.8% | 9% | D |
| 4,195 | Sanborn WI | 1,402 | $53K | 15.2% | 4.8% | 5% | D |
| 4,196 | West Crossett AR | 1,413 | $55K | 18.3% | 5.7% | 2% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Laona, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Laona and its neighbors: 26% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Laona workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laona | – | D | C− | 23 min | $63,281 |
| Blackwell | under 2% | — | — | 30 min | — |
| Lincoln | 14% | C | C− | 21 min | $79,091 |
| Caswell | under 2% | — | — | 31 min | — |
| Wabeno | 12% | D | B− | 22 min | $61,477 |
| Armstrong Creek | under 2% | — | — | 43 min | — |
| Freedom | under 2% | — | — | 42 min | — |
| Argonne | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Blackwell, Caswell, Armstrong Creek and Argonne: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Freedom: the same community as the town of that name, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Lincoln. Darker towns draw more of Laona’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 Laona: questions
What is the median household income in Laona?
$63,281 (±$16,356) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Laona?
18.9%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Laona?
23 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Laona work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lincoln (14%, 8 mi), Wabeno (12%, 11 mi), Crandon (11%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Laona walkable?
Laona is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Laona 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 Laona, from the people who make the trip.
More of Laona
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.