Photo: I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license: · CC BY-SA 3.0Earning a living in Manitowish Waters
Home is the office for 7% of workers, where Wisconsin as a whole has 13%. About one in ten stay in Manitowish Waters for work; outside it, Boulder Junction is the main destination (9%, 9 miles). The average commute, 22 minutes each way, matches the Wisconsin norm.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Manitowish Waters
Half of Manitowish Waters commutes less than 18 miles
About 33% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Manitowish Waters
On a workday 186 residents head out to work, 19 work right here, and 212 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 (1.13 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.
Out of Manitowish Waters to work: where people go
Where Manitowish Waters clocks in
Lines 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.
Jobs in Manitowish Waters: what the 231 are
231 jobs are based in Manitowish Waters.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Manitowish Waters, 2013 → 2023: 169 → 231. 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 Manitowish Waters’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes each way for Manitowish Waters’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Manitowish Waters workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 280 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.
19% of Manitowish Waters works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Manitowish Waters workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manitowish Waters | – | — | — | 22 min | $71,932 |
| Boulder Junction | 9% | C | B+ | 19 min | $74,919 |
| Winchester | under 3% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Lac du Flambeau | 7% | D− | C+ | 18 min | $57,009 |
| Mercer | 3% | C− | C− | 27 min | $63,281 |
| Sherman | under 3% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Winchester and Sherman: 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 Boulder Junction. Darker towns draw more of Manitowish Waters’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 Manitowish Waters: questions
What is the median household income in Manitowish Waters?
$71,932 (±$19,752) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Manitowish Waters?
7.2%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Manitowish Waters?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Manitowish Waters work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boulder Junction (9%, 9 mi), Minocqua (9%, 20 mi), Lac du Flambeau (7%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Manitowish Waters without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Manitowish Waters, from the people who make the trip.
More of Manitowish Waters
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.