Fort Winnebago Surgeon's Quarters · Photo: Perrywattleworth · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Pacific works elsewhere
Employers in Pacific report 353 jobs for 1,331 working residents. Jobs and income earn Pacific A−; getting around on foot earns it D. Only 1% work in Pacific itself; outside it, Madison draws the most (20%, 29 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Pacific, in brief
Fewer jobs are based in Pacific than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Pacific fell from 846 in 2013 to 353 in 2023, −58%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Pacific makes and builds things
50% of the jobs based in Pacific are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Pacific residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 28%. The jobs ↓
Pacific’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Pacific is Madison, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 20% of working residents (270) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The jobs in Pacific pay better than its residents’ jobs
83% of the jobs based in Pacific pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 65% of the jobs Pacific residents hold. 95% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Pacific. The jobs ↓
Pacific is a place people come home to
There are 353 jobs based in Pacific, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Pacific has about 1,800 people in it, 35% fewer than live here. 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.
Jobs & income in Pacific: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Pacific is better than 77% of U.S. towns, #186 of 362 in Wisconsin. The poverty rate holds Pacific’s grade up (3.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pacific could be anywhere from B− to A.
Pacific works in goods: 50% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pacific, 2013 → 2023: 846 → 353. 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 Pacific’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Pacific
About 21% 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.
How many people are in Pacific by day
On a workday 1,313 residents head out to work, 18 work right here, and 335 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Pacific on a workday afternoon, 35% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Pacific: the destinations
Where Pacific clocks in
20% 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.
From Pacific, about 21 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pacific workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,237 commuters (the 20% 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.
Pacific is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pacific is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns, #350 of 362 in Wisconsin. Both inputs place Pacific 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 1,544 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). 1.2% of Pacific households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Pacific’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,969 U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,700, Pacific comes 955th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Ottawa WI | 3,642 | $153K | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | North Prairie WI | 2,193 | $153K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Sun Prairie WI | 2,291 | $127K | 2.0% | 1.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 953 | Winnebago IL | 2,903 | $93K | 6.6% | 3.4% | 7% | A− |
| 954 | Youngwood PA | 2,878 | $71K | 9.7% | 0.0% | 6% | A− |
| 955 | Pacific WI | 2,769 | $88K | 3.2% | 2.2% | 1% | A− |
| 956 | Jarrettsville MD | 2,560 | $147K | 4.6% | 5.2% | 4% | A− |
| 957 | Helmetta NJ | 2,474 | $99K | 3.7% | 7.4% | <1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,969 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Pacific, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door is work for 19% of Pacific
The biggest share goes to Portage (17%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pacific workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific | – | A− | D | 21 min | $87,941 |
| Portage | 17% | C+ | A− | 22 min | $64,722 |
| Caledonia | 2% | B− | C | 26 min | $98,182 |
| Dekorra | under 2% | A | D | 31 min | $122,222 |
| Wyocena | under 2% | A | C+ | 30 min | $97,609 |
| Fort Winnebago | under 2% | — | — | 30 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Fort Winnebago: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Pacific’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 Pacific: questions
What is the median household income in Pacific?
$87,941 (±$16,529) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pacific?
3.2%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pacific?
21 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pacific work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison (20%, 29 mi), Portage (17%, 4 mi), Baraboo (3%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pacific walkable?
Pacific is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.5 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pacific without a car?
0% 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 Pacific, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pacific
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.