Photo: Joehanneman · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Mauston (1.2%) is lower than in 93% of U.S. towns
6% of workers have no commute at all, next to 13% for Wisconsin as a whole. For jobs and income Mauston is better than 42% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (A). About one in three work in Mauston itself; outside it, New Lisbon draws the most (7%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Mauston apart
The four measures behind Mauston’s grade
Unemployment holds Mauston’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (18.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mauston could be anywhere from C to B−.
Who works in Mauston, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,197 residents head out to work, 520 work right here, and 3,064 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,000 people are in Mauston on a workday afternoon, 45% more than live here.
2.1 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The towns that send workers to Mauston
Where Mauston clocks in
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.
What the 3,584 jobs in Mauston are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mauston, 2013 → 2023: 3,334 → 3,584. 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 Mauston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Mauston: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mauston workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,902 commuters (the 6% 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 Mauston
About 29% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Mauston
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 8.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,025 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). 8.4% of Mauston households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mauston’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Mauston is 2,460th of 4,112 U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 47 | Ottawa WI | 3,642 | $153K | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Jackson WI | 3,950 | $117K | 0.6% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Bristol WI | 4,347 | $141K | 1.2% | 0.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,458 | Washington Township IN | 4,323 | $63K | 13.7% | 2.4% | 22% | C+ |
| 2,459 | Hanceville AL | 3,390 | $42K | 16.6% | 0.0% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,460 | Mauston WI | 4,133 | $64K | 18.5% | 1.2% | 30% | C+ |
| 2,461 | Somerset Township IL | 3,940 | $71K | 4.3% | 7.8% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,462 | Jay ME | 4,639 | $70K | 9.8% | 2.8% | 10% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,112 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Mauston, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Work in the towns next to Mauston
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Mauston’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 Mauston: questions
What is the median household income in Mauston?
$63,636 (±$9,970) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mauston?
18.5%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mauston?
24 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mauston work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New Lisbon (7%, 7 mi), Tomah (4%, 25 mi), Lake Delton (3%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mauston walkable?
Mauston is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mauston without a car?
0% 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 Mauston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mauston
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.