USS COBIA (submarine) · Public domainManitowoc’s household incomes are lower than in 68% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Manitowoc B−; getting around on foot earns it B+. Poverty touches 12.6% of residents (Wisconsin 10.6%). About half work in Manitowoc; the top destination outside it is Two Rivers (5%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Manitowoc apart on work
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Manitowoc
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Manitowoc is better than 46% of U.S. towns, #302 of 362 in Wisconsin. Job access by car holds Manitowoc’s grade up (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($63,757, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Manitowoc could be anywhere from C to B.
A place that makes things: 36% of Manitowoc’s jobs are in goods
18,088 jobs are based in Manitowoc.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Manitowoc, 2013 → 2023: 18,679 → 18,088. 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 Manitowoc’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Manitowoc, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 8,082 residents head out to work, 7,350 work right here, and 10,738 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 (1.17 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 Manitowoc to work: where people go
Where Manitowoc clocks in
5% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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.
The daily trip from Manitowoc: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Manitowoc workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 15,393 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.
How far it is to work from Manitowoc
About 15% 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 Manitowoc, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Manitowoc is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns, #84 of 362 in Wisconsin. Both inputs place Manitowoc 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 16,466 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). 8.0% of Manitowoc households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Manitowoc’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Manitowoc ranks: 931st of 1,287 U.S. towns of 24,000 to 47,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Brookfield WI | 41,448 | $130K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Muskego WI | 25,602 | $112K | 3.0% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Mequon WI | 25,120 | $144K | 4.2% | 2.6% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 929 | Hurricane UT | 25,745 | $75K | 9.0% | 3.9% | 23% | B− |
| 930 | Northampton MA | 31,047 | $80K | 13.4% | 5.5% | 32% | B− |
| 931 | Manitowoc WI | 34,671 | $64K | 12.6% | 3.7% | 48% | B− |
| 932 | Laramie WY | 32,284 | $56K | 22.5% | 4.0% | 67% | B− |
| 933 | Boardman Township OH | 39,687 | $67K | 13.5% | 4.6% | 23% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,287 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Manitowoc, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Manitowoc
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Manitowoc workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manitowoc | – | B− | B+ | 19 min | $63,757 |
| Manitowoc Rapids | under 2% | A− | B | 15 min | $94,107 |
| Newton | 2% | A | C+ | 19 min | $84,837 |
| Two Rivers | under 2% | B | D | 24 min | $77,056 |
| Two Rivers | 5% | B− | B+ | 21 min | $57,222 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Two Rivers. Darker towns draw more of Manitowoc’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 Manitowoc: questions
What is the median household income in Manitowoc?
$63,757 (±$3,554) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Manitowoc?
12.6%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Manitowoc?
19 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Manitowoc work?
48% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Two Rivers (5%, 6 mi), Sheboygan (4%, 25 mi), Green Bay (3%, 33 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Manitowoc walkable?
Manitowoc is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Manitowoc without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Manitowoc, from the people who make the trip.
More of Manitowoc
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.