Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0Manawa’s household incomes are higher than in 66% of U.S. towns
5% of workers have no commute at all, next to 13% for Wisconsin as a whole. For jobs and income Manawa is better than 53% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (C). About one in ten work in Manawa; the top destination outside it is Waupaca (12%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Manawa apart
Manawa’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Household income holds Manawa’s grade up ($88,393, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 43% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.9%) is left out: Manawa’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, Manawa could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
In Manawa, 74% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
848 jobs are based in Manawa.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Manawa, 2013 → 2023: 1,026 → 848. 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 Manawa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Manawa
On a workday 655 residents head out to work, 78 work right here, and 770 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.16 per resident).
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 Manawa ends
Where Manawa clocks in
12% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
Time on the road from Manawa: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Manawa workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 609 commuters (the 5% 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.
Half of Manawa commutes less than 22 miles
About 18% 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.
In Manawa, the car does most of the work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 640 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). 3.1% of Manawa households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Manawa’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,875th of 5,877: where Manawa ranks among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Wind Point WI | 1,620 | $143K | 0.4% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,873 | East Canton OH | 1,513 | $57K | 8.9% | 3.2% | 2% | B− |
| 1,874 | West Mayfield PA | 1,163 | $55K | 7.6% | 10.6% | 1% | B− |
| 1,875 | Manawa WI | 1,411 | $88K | 10.6% | 3.9% | 11% | B− |
| 1,876 | Clay Township IN | 1,081 | $75K | 6.1% | 3.7% | 1% | B− |
| 1,877 | Noble Township IN | 1,896 | $92K | 9.8% | 4.5% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Manawa, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
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 Manawa: questions
What is the median household income in Manawa?
$88,393 (±$14,839) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Manawa?
10.6%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Manawa?
18 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Manawa work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waupaca (12%, 11 mi), New London (4%, 10 mi), Appleton (4%, 29 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Manawa walkable?
Manawa is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Manawa without a car?
<1% 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 Manawa, from the people who make the trip.
More of Manawa
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.