Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railroad Passsenger Station · Photo: TheCatalyst31 · CC0A job hub: Rice Lake has 2.1 jobs per working resident, and 6,784 people come in to work
Household incomes here are lower than in 85% of U.S. towns. 8,412 jobs are based in Rice Lake; 4,058 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Rice Lake are C 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
What the numbers say about work in Rice Lake
Rice Lake is where the jobs are
Rice Lake has 8,412 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 13,000 people are in town, 49% more than the 8,900 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Rice Lake are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 22 across Wisconsin. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Wisconsin worker. Time on the road ↓
Rice Lake draws workers from far and wide
The 8,412 jobs in Rice Lake are filled from a wide area. Rice Lake’s own residents hold 19% and the ten next-biggest home towns 25%; the other 56% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Rice Lake
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Rice Lake is better than 33% of U.S. towns, #328 of 362 in Wisconsin. Unemployment holds Rice Lake’s grade up (3.2%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($52,417, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rice Lake could be anywhere from D to B−.
The workday shuffle in and out of Rice Lake
On a workday 2,430 residents head out to work and 1,628 work right here.
About 13,000 people are in Rice Lake on a workday afternoon, 49% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
How long Rice Lake spends getting to work: about 13 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rice Lake workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,149 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.
Where Rice Lake’s workforce comes from
Where Rice Lake clocks in
4% 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.
In Rice Lake, 32% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rice Lake, 2014 → 2024: 8,093 → 8,412. 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 Rice Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Rice Lake
About 28% 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.
Most trips from Rice Lake start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rice Lake is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns, #139 of 362 in Wisconsin. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.8% across Wisconsin.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,411 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). 11.2% of Rice Lake households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Rice Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,907 U.S. towns of 6,200 to 12,000, Rice Lake comes 2,181st on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 3 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Fox Point WI | 6,583 | $141K | 2.5% | 0.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Elm Grove WI | 6,354 | $158K | 4.4% | 0.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 41 | Waukesha WI | 8,507 | $131K | 3.0% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,179 | East Flat Rock NC | 6,323 | $60K | 12.6% | 5.0% | 7% | C |
| 2,180 | Folcroft PA | 6,780 | $61K | 16.2% | 10.3% | 3% | C |
| 2,181 | Rice Lake WI | 8,882 | $52K | 12.9% | 3.2% | 40% | C |
| 2,182 | Shelby OH | 9,231 | $58K | 13.2% | 4.2% | 18% | C |
| 2,183 | Swissvale PA | 8,197 | $60K | 17.0% | 8.0% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,907 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Rice Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Around Rice Lake: the bordering towns
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Rice Lake’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 Rice Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Rice Lake?
$52,417 (±$7,654) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rice Lake?
12.9%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rice Lake?
13 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rice Lake work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Eau Claire (6%, 48 mi), Barron (4%, 8 mi), Menomonie (2%, 42 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Rice Lake walkable?
Rice Lake is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rice Lake without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rice Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rice Lake
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.