Jobs, pay and the trip to work in Prairie Farm
Only 4% stay in Prairie Farm for work; outside it, Barron is the main destination (13%, 13 miles). For 2% of workers, the job is at home, where Wisconsin as a whole has 13%. The trip to work takes 23 minutes on average (Wisconsin 22, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Prairie Farm: the figures worth knowing
About 23 minutes each way for Prairie Farm’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Prairie Farm workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 217 commuters (the 2% 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 a workday changes Prairie Farm
On a workday 220 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 165 people come in from elsewhere.
About 410 people are in Prairie Farm on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.76 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Prairie Farm ends
Where Prairie Farm clocks in
13% 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.
What Prairie Farm’s employers do
173 jobs are based in Prairie Farm.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Prairie Farm, 2014 → 2024: 218 → 173. 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 Prairie Farm’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Prairie Farm’s workers travel
About 22% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
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 Prairie Farm: questions
What is the median household income in Prairie Farm?
$45,313 (±$27,141) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Prairie Farm?
22.8%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Prairie Farm?
23 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Prairie Farm work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Barron (13%, 13 mi), Rice Lake (7%, 21 mi), Eau Claire (5%, 37 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Prairie Farm without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Prairie Farm, from the people who make the trip.
More of Prairie Farm
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.