Photo: Garrison Point · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Pleasant Prairie earn more than those in 80% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 25 minutes each way (Wisconsin 22, U.S. 26). 7.1% of residents are in poverty, next to 10.6% for Wisconsin as a whole. Pleasant Prairie grades A− for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Pleasant Prairie, in brief
Pleasant Prairie and Kenosha trade workers both ways
Kenosha is the top workplace for Pleasant Prairie residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Pleasant Prairie come from (29% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Pleasant Prairie is where the jobs are
Pleasant Prairie has 17,598 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Pleasant Prairie has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Pleasant Prairie went from 12,416 in 2014 to 17,598 in 2024, +42%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Jobs & income in Pleasant Prairie: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Pleasant Prairie is better than 82% of U.S. towns, #156 of 362 in Wisconsin. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 82% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pleasant Prairie could be anywhere from B+ to A.
Who travels to work in Pleasant Prairie, and from where
Where Pleasant Prairie clocks in
24% of workers
4% 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.
Who works in Pleasant Prairie, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 9,210 residents head out to work, 1,374 work right here, and 16,224 people come in from elsewhere.
About 29,000 people are in Pleasant Prairie on a workday afternoon, 32% more than live here.
1.7 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 2024, primary jobs.
66% of the jobs in Pleasant Prairie pay over $3,333 a month
17,598 jobs are based in Pleasant Prairie.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pleasant Prairie, 2014 → 2024: 12,416 → 17,598. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Pleasant Prairie’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 25 minutes from Pleasant Prairie
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pleasant Prairie workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,291 commuters (the 13% 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.
How many miles Pleasant Prairie commutes
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Few in Pleasant Prairie walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pleasant Prairie is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns, #175 of 362 in Wisconsin. Both inputs place Pleasant Prairie 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 10,687 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.5% of Pleasant Prairie households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Pleasant Prairie’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Pleasant Prairie is 548th among 1,787 U.S. towns of 15,000 to 29,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Verona WI | 16,821 | $120K | 1.4% | 1.6% | 22% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Muskego WI | 25,602 | $112K | 3.0% | 2.0% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Waunakee WI | 16,411 | $125K | 2.8% | 1.4% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 546 | Bedford NY | 16,933 | $196K | 8.9% | 4.4% | 10% | A− |
| 547 | Adams Township PA | 15,927 | $150K | 6.5% | 4.5% | 8% | A− |
| 548 | Pleasant Prairie WI | 21,798 | $104K | 7.1% | 3.6% | 13% | A− |
| 549 | Onondaga NY | 22,431 | $104K | 3.5% | 4.5% | 7% | A− |
| 550 | Tiverton RI | 15,809 | $106K | 4.4% | 4.5% | 12% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,787 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Pleasant Prairie, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door is work for 24% of Pleasant Prairie
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pleasant Prairie workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant Prairie | – | A− | B− | 25 min | $103,902 |
| Kenosha | 24% | B− | B+ | 24 min | $71,239 |
| Bristol | under 2% | A | B+ | 26 min | $123,648 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Kenosha. Darker towns draw more of Pleasant Prairie’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 2024, 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 Pleasant Prairie: questions
What is the median household income in Pleasant Prairie?
$103,902 (±$6,180) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pleasant Prairie?
7.1%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pleasant Prairie?
25 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pleasant Prairie work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kenosha (24%, 4 mi), Milwaukee (4%, 37 mi), Libertyville Township (3%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Pleasant Prairie walkable?
Pleasant Prairie is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pleasant Prairie without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pleasant Prairie, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pleasant Prairie
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.