With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Leon works elsewhere
Hardly any work in Leon; the top destination outside it is Sparta (16%, 6 miles). 104 jobs are based in Leon; 554 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Leon A−; getting around on foot earns it D.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Leon
Inside Leon’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Leon is better than 75% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Leon’s grade up (2.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 38% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (2.0%) is left out: Leon’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, Leon could be anywhere from B to A−.
Leon on a workday afternoon
On a workday 550 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 100 people come in from elsewhere.
About 700 people are in Leon on a workday afternoon, 39% 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.
Commuting out of Leon: the destinations
Where Leon clocks in
16% of workers
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.
Leon makes things: 51% of its jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Leon, 2013 → 2023: 137 → 104. 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 Leon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Leon: 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 Leon workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 590 commuters (the 7% 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 Leon
About 25% 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.
Driving is how Leon gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Leon is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 3.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 634 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). 2.8% of Leon households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Leon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Leon places 553rd of 4,312 on jobs and income 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 551 | Palmyra Township IN | 1,473 | $99K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 2% | A− |
| 552 | Hollenback Township PA | 1,184 | $89K | 4.1% | 13.0% | 1% | A− |
| 553 | Leon WI | 1,151 | $89K | 2.2% | 2.0% | 1% | A− |
| 554 | Elwood UT | 1,375 | $102K | 3.8% | 6.5% | 1% | A− |
| 555 | Belle WV | 1,088 | $77K | 3.3% | 10.6% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Leon, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Around Leon: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Leon workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leon | – | A− | D | 24 min | $88,750 |
| Bangor | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Wells | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Sparta | under 2% | A− | D | 18 min | $94,226 |
| Portland | under 2% | — | — | 30 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Bangor and Portland: the same communities as the places of those names, graded once. Wells: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Leon’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 Leon: questions
What is the median household income in Leon?
$88,750 (±$18,887) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Leon?
2.2%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Leon?
24 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Leon work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sparta (16%, 6 mi), La Crosse (12%, 19 mi), Cashton (12%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Leon walkable?
Leon is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 3.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Leon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Leon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Leon
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.