Old Indian Agency House (Boundary Increase) · Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Portage trail those of 66% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 13.5% of residents (Wisconsin 10.6%). Portage grades C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in four work in Portage; the top destination outside it is Madison (15%, 32 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Portage stands out on work
Portage’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Portage is Madison, 32 miles away as the crow flies. 15% of working residents (728) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Portage draws workers from far and wide
The 7,250 jobs in Portage are filled from a wide area. Portage’s own residents hold 20% and the ten next-biggest home towns 17%; the other 63% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Portage gains people on a workday
About 12,000 people are in Portage on a workday afternoon, 24% more than the 10,000 who live here: 5,800 come in to work and 3,400 head out. 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.
Income, poverty and work: Portage’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Portage is better than 43% of U.S. towns, #309 of 362 in Wisconsin. Unemployment holds Portage’s grade up (3.7%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Portage could be anywhere from C− to B.
How far Portage goes to work
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.
The towns that employ Portage’s residents
Where Portage clocks in
15% 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.
Portage on a workday afternoon
On a workday 3,431 residents head out to work, 1,415 work right here, and 5,835 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Portage on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.50 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.
Goods jobs make up 28% of work in Portage
7,250 jobs are based in Portage.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Portage, 2013 → 2023: 7,106 → 7,250. 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 Portage’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes each way, about the WI average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Portage workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,481 commuters (the 6% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Portage
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Portage is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #74 of 362 in Wisconsin. Both inputs place Portage 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 4,789 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). 7.0% of Portage households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Portage’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,786th of 2,722: where Portage ranks among U.S. towns of 7,000 to 13,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Waukesha WI | 8,507 | $131K | 3.0% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Genesee WI | 7,235 | $119K | 3.3% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Greenville WI | 13,388 | $118K | 1.7% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,784 | Tecumseh MI | 8,608 | $63K | 5.6% | 5.5% | 14% | C+ |
| 1,785 | Purcell OK | 7,030 | $63K | 14.0% | 4.0% | 14% | C+ |
| 1,786 | Portage WI | 9,956 | $65K | 13.5% | 3.7% | 29% | C+ |
| 1,787 | Sparta Township MI | 9,617 | $76K | 10.8% | 8.3% | 12% | C+ |
| 1,788 | Hampstead NC | 9,292 | $92K | 9.5% | 6.3% | 6% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,722 | 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 Portage, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
The towns around Portage
The biggest share goes to Caledonia (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Portage workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portage | – | C+ | A− | 22 min | $64,722 |
| Fort Winnebago | under 2% | — | — | 30 min | — |
| Pacific | under 2% | A− | D | 21 min | $87,941 |
| Lewiston | under 2% | B | D | 28 min | $90,852 |
| Caledonia | 1% | B− | C | 26 min | $98,182 |
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 Portage’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 Portage: questions
What is the median household income in Portage?
$64,722 (±$6,855) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Portage?
13.5%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Portage?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Portage work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison (15%, 32 mi), Baraboo (2%, 15 mi), Lake Delton (2%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Portage walkable?
Portage is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Portage without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Portage, from the people who make the trip.
More of Portage
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.