Photo: SD Dirk · CC BY 2.0How Monroe works: jobs, income and commuting
About half work in Monroe itself; outside it, Madison draws the most (10%, 35 miles). The two grades for Monroe are B− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Working residents average 18 minutes each way, where Wisconsin has 22 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Monroe apart
Monroe’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Monroe is Madison, 35 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (495) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Monroe is where the jobs are
Monroe has 8,190 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
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.
Inside Monroe’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Monroe is better than 46% of U.S. towns, #304 of 362 in Wisconsin. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Monroe’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Monroe could be anywhere from C to B+.
How far Monroe goes to work
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.
Who leaves Monroe for work, and who comes in
On a workday 2,817 residents head out to work, 2,370 work right here, and 5,820 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Monroe on a workday afternoon, 28% more than live here.
1.6 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.
Where the people who work in Monroe live
Where Monroe clocks in
10% of workers
2% 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.
Inside Monroe’s 8,190 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Monroe, 2013 → 2023: 7,763 → 8,190. 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 Monroe’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 18 minutes each way for Monroe’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Monroe workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,733 commuters (the 12% 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 in Monroe is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Monroe is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns, #114 of 362 in Wisconsin. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.8% across Wisconsin.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,382 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). 6.3% of Monroe households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Monroe’s commuters take a bus or train.
Monroe next to U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000: 1,819th of 2,878 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Waukesha WI | 8,507 | $131K | 3.0% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Genesee WI | 7,235 | $119K | 3.3% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | Greenville WI | 13,388 | $118K | 1.7% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,817 | Wauseon OH | 7,430 | $64K | 8.9% | 4.5% | 29% | B− |
| 1,818 | Box Elder SD | 13,936 | $73K | 7.5% | 4.9% | 7% | B− |
| 1,819 | Monroe WI | 10,581 | $69K | 8.9% | 4.3% | 46% | B− |
| 1,820 | Plattsburgh NY | 11,748 | $72K | 10.4% | 3.7% | 26% | B− |
| 1,821 | Lexington NE | 11,176 | $68K | 13.8% | 2.1% | 21% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | 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 Monroe, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
The towns around Monroe
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Monroe’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 Monroe: questions
What is the median household income in Monroe?
$69,334 (±$9,433) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Monroe?
8.9%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Monroe?
18 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Monroe work?
46% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison (10%, 35 mi), New Glarus (2%, 14 mi), Brodhead (2%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Monroe walkable?
Monroe is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Monroe without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Monroe, from the people who make the trip.
More of Monroe
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.