Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0Merrill has lower household incomes than 84% of U.S. towns
About one in three stay in Merrill for work; outside it, Wausau is the main destination (13%, 15 miles). Below the poverty line: 17.4% of residents; Wisconsin has 10.6%. The two grades for Merrill are C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What’s behind Merrill’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Merrill is better than 25% of U.S. towns, #340 of 362 in Wisconsin. Unemployment holds Merrill’s grade up (4.2%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($53,148, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Merrill could be anywhere from D to C+.
Merrill fills up on a workday
On a workday 3,136 residents head out to work, 1,578 work right here, and 4,094 people come in from elsewhere.
About 10,000 people are in Merrill on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.20 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.
The towns that employ Merrill’s residents
Where Merrill clocks in
13% 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 Merrill’s employers do
5,672 jobs are based in Merrill.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Merrill, 2013 → 2023: 5,553 → 5,672. 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 Merrill’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 18 minutes to work from Merrill
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Merrill workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,921 commuters (the 11% 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.
The commute from Merrill, by distance
About 27% 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 commute in Merrill is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Merrill is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns, #85 of 362 in Wisconsin. Both inputs place Merrill 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 4,426 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). 7.6% of Merrill households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Merrill’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Merrill ranks: 2,285th of 2,806 U.S. towns of 6,600 to 12,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Waukesha WI | 8,507 | $131K | 3.0% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Genesee WI | 7,235 | $119K | 3.3% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Vernon WI | 7,464 | $120K | 3.0% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,283 | Safford AZ | 10,279 | $66K | 14.1% | 4.3% | 36% | C− |
| 2,284 | Graham TX | 8,814 | $64K | 18.4% | 3.4% | 34% | C− |
| 2,285 | Merrill WI | 9,389 | $53K | 17.4% | 4.2% | 33% | C− |
| 2,286 | Skowhegan ME | 8,676 | $49K | 14.2% | 3.7% | 30% | C− |
| 2,287 | Madison IN | 12,304 | $61K | 14.9% | 5.2% | 39% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,806 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Merrill, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Around Merrill: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Merrill workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merrill | – | C− | B+ | 18 min | $53,148 |
| Scott | under 2% | B | C+ | 27 min | $87,500 |
| Pine River | under 2% | A− | D | 22 min | $109,722 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Merrill’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 Merrill: questions
What is the median household income in Merrill?
$53,148 (±$7,757) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Merrill?
17.4%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Merrill?
18 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Merrill work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wausau (13%, 15 mi), Weston (3%, 21 mi), Medford (2%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Merrill walkable?
Merrill is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Merrill 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 Merrill, from the people who make the trip.
More of Merrill
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.