Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Unemployment in Prescott (3.1%) is lower than in 68% of U.S. towns
At 22 minutes each way, commutes from Prescott run about the Wisconsin average. For jobs and income Prescott is better than 64% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (A−). About one in five work in Prescott; the top destination outside it is Hastings (9%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Prescott
Prescott trades workers with the towns around it
Prescott has about as many jobs (1,564) as working residents (1,451), but they are mostly different people: 1,165 residents leave for work each day while 1,278 people come in. Only 18% of the jobs in Prescott are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
The quickest commute around
Prescott’s 22-minute average trip is shorter than in any town next door, where it runs from 28 to 30 minutes. Next door ↓
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.
Inside Prescott’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Prescott’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (11.5%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Prescott could be anywhere from C to A.
Who leaves Prescott for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,165 residents head out to work, 286 work right here, and 1,278 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 (1.08 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.
Where the trip to work from Prescott ends
Where Prescott clocks in
9% of workers
6% 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 the 1,564 jobs in Prescott are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Prescott, 2013 → 2023: 1,219 → 1,564. 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 Prescott’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Prescott spends getting to work: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Prescott workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,759 commuters (the 18% 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 Prescott commutes
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Prescott is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 7.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,153 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). 5.9% of Prescott households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Prescott’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 3,200 to 6,200, Prescott ranks 1,472nd of 3,938 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Ottawa WI | 3,642 | $153K | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Jackson WI | 3,950 | $117K | 0.6% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Bristol WI | 4,347 | $141K | 1.2% | 0.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,470 | Ashville OH | 4,819 | $67K | 4.0% | 5.1% | 5% | B |
| 1,471 | New Holland PA | 5,754 | $63K | 10.7% | 1.8% | 13% | B |
| 1,472 | Prescott WI | 4,581 | $74K | 11.5% | 3.1% | 20% | B |
| 1,473 | Paris Township OH | 5,712 | $69K | 9.0% | 2.0% | 14% | B |
| 1,474 | Central Park WA | 3,206 | $99K | 6.4% | 2.8% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,938 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Prescott, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
How Prescott compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Clifton (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Prescott’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 Prescott: questions
What is the median household income in Prescott?
$74,412 (±$10,449) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Prescott?
11.5%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Prescott?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Prescott work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hastings (9%, 4 mi), River Falls (9%, 11 mi), Hudson (6%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Prescott walkable?
Prescott is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Prescott 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 Prescott, from the people who make the trip.
More of Prescott
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.