Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Rio works elsewhere
Only 4% work in Rio; the top destination outside it is Madison (26%, 27 miles). 308 jobs are based in Rio for 587 working residents. Rio grades C for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Rio and work: the main findings
Rio’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Rio is Madison, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 26% of working residents (153) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Rio
68% of Rio residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 40% of the jobs based in Rio pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 96% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Rio workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 29 minutes each way, against 22 across Wisconsin. Over a year that’s about 222 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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 587 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Rio’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Rio is better than 33% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Rio’s grade up (ahead of 56% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (17.6%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (1.1%) is left out: Rio’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Rio could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Rio
About 16% 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 Rio’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rio, 2013 → 2023: 161 → 308. 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 Rio’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Rio spends getting to work: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rio workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 551 commuters (the 8% 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.
A workday in Rio: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 562 residents head out to work, 25 work right here, and 283 people come in from elsewhere.
About 840 people are in Rio on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The places Rio commutes to
Where Rio clocks in
26% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Rio
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rio is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Rio 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 599 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). 1.2% of Rio households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rio’s commuters take a bus or train.
Rio next to U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500: 1,953rd of 3,771 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Big Bend WI | 1,498 | $135K | 3.2% | 0.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,951 | Troy Township PA | 1,038 | $71K | 7.3% | 10.1% | 3% | C |
| 1,952 | Plymouth CA | 1,174 | $93K | 15.7% | 5.4% | 2% | C |
| 1,953 | Rio WI | 1,123 | $68K | 17.6% | 1.1% | 4% | C |
| 1,954 | Casner Township IL | 1,141 | $65K | 10.7% | 5.0% | 3% | C |
| 1,955 | Evans Township IL | 1,148 | $70K | 11.6% | 1.4% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Rio, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Rio
The biggest share goes to Lowville (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Rio workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rio | – | C | A− | 29 min | $67,833 |
| Lowville | 2% | A− | D− | 30 min | $108,063 |
| Otsego | under 3% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| Wyocena | under 3% | A | C+ | 30 min | $97,609 |
| Springvale | under 3% | — | — | 35 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Otsego and Springvale: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Rio’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 Rio: questions
What is the median household income in Rio?
$67,833 (±$5,435) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rio?
17.6%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rio?
29 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rio work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison (26%, 27 mi), Portage (5%, 13 mi), DeForest (5%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rio walkable?
Rio is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rio without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rio, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rio
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.