How Rib Lake works: jobs, income and commuting
335 jobs are based in Rib Lake; 343 of its residents have a job. About one in ten work in Rib Lake itself; outside it, Medford draws the most (29%, 14 miles). Working residents average 20 minutes each way, where Wisconsin has 22 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Rib Lake apart on work
29% of Rib Lake works in Medford
100 working residents, 29%, have their main job in Medford, 15 miles away. That’s 3 times as many as work in Rib Lake itself. The commute map ↓
Many jobs in Rib Lake pay little
31% of the jobs based in Rib Lake pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
Rib Lake makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Rib Lake are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Rib Lake residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 40%. The jobs ↓
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; with 343 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Rib Lake’s working residents head each day
Where Rib Lake clocks in
3% 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.
Goods, not services: 36% of the jobs in Rib Lake
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rib Lake, 2013 → 2023: 273 → 335. 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 Rib Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Rib Lake on a workday afternoon
On a workday 305 residents head out to work, 38 work right here, and 297 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 (0.98 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.
Each way, about 20 minutes from Rib Lake
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rib Lake workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 340 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Rib Lake
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.
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 Rib Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Rib Lake?
$57,632 (±$9,701) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rib Lake?
16.4%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rib Lake?
20 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rib Lake work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Medford (29%, 14 mi), Wausau (3%, 37 mi), Browning (3%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Rib Lake without a car?
0% 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 Rib Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rib Lake
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.