Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Manchester works elsewhere
Only 3% work in Manchester; the top destination outside it is Markesan (15%, 4 miles). There are 113 jobs in Manchester for 457 working residents. For jobs and income Manchester is better than 21% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (C).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Manchester
Manchester and Markesan trade workers both ways
Markesan is the top workplace for Manchester residents (15%) and also where the most people who work in Manchester come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Manchester is a place people come home to
There are 113 jobs based in Manchester, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Manchester has about 740 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Manchester workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 22 across Wisconsin. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 69 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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 457 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Manchester’s Jobs & income grade
Household income holds Manchester’s grade up ($78,438, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.4%) is left out: Manchester’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, Manchester could be anywhere from D to C+.
The places Manchester commutes to
Where Manchester clocks in
15% 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.
How many people are in Manchester by day
On a workday 443 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 99 people come in from elsewhere.
About 740 people are in Manchester on a workday afternoon, 32% 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.
About 31 minutes to work from Manchester
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Manchester workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 403 commuters (the 16% 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.
Manchester makes things: 36% of its jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Manchester, 2013 → 2023: 41 → 113. 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 Manchester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Manchester’s commute, mile by mile
About 24% 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 Manchester, most people drive to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 3.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 482 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). 19.0% of Manchester households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Manchester’s commuters take a bus or train.
Manchester next to U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500: 2,506th of 3,771 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Big Bend WI | 1,498 | $135K | 3.2% | 0.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,504 | Lancaster Township IN | 1,486 | $80K | 18.5% | 1.8% | 1% | C− |
| 2,505 | Montville ME | 1,025 | $66K | 10.7% | 3.3% | 2% | C− |
| 2,506 | Manchester WI | 1,088 | $78K | 18.6% | 3.4% | 3% | C− |
| 2,507 | Flanagan IL | 1,022 | $62K | 12.8% | 2.6% | 3% | C− |
| 2,508 | Island City OR | 1,142 | $67K | 14.0% | 7.0% | 5% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Manchester, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door is work for 18% of Manchester
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Manchester workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester | – | C− | C | 31 min | $78,438 |
| Mackford | 3% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Kingston | under 3% | C− | B | 26 min | $82,813 |
| Randolph | under 3% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Markesan | 15% | C− | B | 26 min | $62,165 |
| Kingston | under 3% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| Scott | under 3% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Green Lake | under 3% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Mackford: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Randolph, Kingston, Scott and Green Lake: the same communities as the places of those names, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Markesan. Darker towns draw more of Manchester’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 Manchester: questions
What is the median household income in Manchester?
$78,438 (±$20,491) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Manchester?
18.6%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Manchester?
31 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Manchester work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Markesan (15%, 4 mi), Ripon (5%, 16 mi), Fond du Lac (4%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Manchester walkable?
Manchester is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 3.1 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Manchester without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 19% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Manchester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Manchester
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.