Photo: Downspec · CC BY-SA 4.0College students make up 42% of Platteville’s residents
About one in three work in Platteville itself; outside it, Dubuque draws the most (7%, 20 miles). For jobs and income Platteville is better than 50% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (A−). A typical one-way commute from Platteville lasts 17 minutes (Wisconsin 22, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Platteville: the figures worth knowing
A young workforce
32% of Platteville’s working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Commutes from Platteville are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 22 across Wisconsin. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Wisconsin worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
The figures behind Platteville’s Jobs & income grade
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Platteville’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate.
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (27% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 9.7%, against 23.9% for all residents. Unemployment (4.9%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($97,083), since student households pull the household median down ($43,083).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Platteville could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Inside Platteville’s 5,036 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Platteville, 2013 → 2023: 4,829 → 5,036. 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 Platteville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Platteville goes to work
About 35% 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.
Getting to work from Platteville takes about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Platteville workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,493 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.
A workday in Platteville: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,830 residents head out to work, 1,355 work right here, and 3,681 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 (1.20 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.
Commuting out of Platteville: the destinations
Where Platteville clocks in
7% of workers
6% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Platteville
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 17.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 7.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,922 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). 5.6% of Platteville households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Platteville’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Platteville ranks: 1,624th of 2,695 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Waukesha WI | 8,507 | $131K | 3.0% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 59 | Greenville WI | 13,388 | $118K | 1.7% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | Cottage Grove WI | 8,930 | $139K | 3.7% | 0.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,622 | Clay AL | 10,198 | $82K | 17.3% | 4.6% | 1% | B− |
| 1,623 | Pineville NC | 11,851 | $69K | 13.8% | 5.2% | 5% | B− |
| 1,624 | Platteville WI | 11,815 | $43K | 23.9% | 4.9% | 32% | B− |
| 1,625 | Lakewood Park FL | 13,866 | $64K | 9.4% | 3.4% | 3% | B− |
| 1,626 | Fairview OR | 10,762 | $70K | 17.5% | 4.1% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Platteville, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
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.
- Students. 42% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Platteville: questions
What is the median household income in Platteville?
$43,083 (±$4,890) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Platteville?
23.9% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 9.7%. Wisconsin: 10.6%.
How long is the commute from Platteville?
17 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Platteville work?
32% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dubuque (7%, 20 mi), Madison (6%, 58 mi), Lancaster (3%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Platteville walkable?
Platteville is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 18% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Platteville 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 Platteville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Platteville
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.