With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Round Lake works elsewhere
For jobs and income Round Lake is better than 29% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (B−). There are 193 jobs in Round Lake; 397 of its residents have a job. About one in ten work in Round Lake itself; outside it, Hayward draws the most (25%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Round Lake
The four measures behind Round Lake’s grade
The poverty rate holds Round Lake’s grade up (5.8%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.3%) is left out: Round Lake’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, Round Lake could be anywhere from C− to C+.
How far it is to work from Round Lake
About 35% 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.
In and out of Round Lake on a workday
On a workday 365 residents head out to work, 32 work right here, and 161 people come in from elsewhere.
About 940 people are in Round Lake on a workday afternoon, 18% 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 Round Lake commutes to
Where Round Lake clocks in
25% of workers
14% 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.
Jobs in Round Lake: what the 193 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Round Lake, 2013 → 2023: 189 → 193. 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 Round Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Round Lake spends getting to work: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Round Lake workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 396 commuters (the 15% 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.
Most of Round Lake commutes by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 5.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 466 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). 1.9% of Round Lake households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Round Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Round Lake places 2,140th of 3,771 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,138 | Netarts OR | 1,022 | $80K | 9.8% | 0.0% | 3% | C |
| 2,139 | Wayne Township OH | 1,310 | $64K | 10.0% | 0.0% | <1% | C |
| 2,140 | Round Lake WI | 1,148 | $62K | 5.8% | 3.3% | 8% | C |
| 2,141 | Morocco IN | 1,084 | $62K | 7.0% | 4.6% | 5% | C |
| 2,142 | Ashley IN | 1,037 | $49K | 11.1% | 2.5% | 5% | 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 Round Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Work next door: 18% of Round Lake’s workers
The biggest share goes to Hayward (14%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Round Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round Lake | – | C | B− | 25 min | $62,011 |
| Spider Lake | 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Hunter | 2% | — | — | 38 min | — |
| Lenroot | under 2% | C− | C+ | 20 min | $64,250 |
| Hayward | 14% | C | B− | 18 min | $66,615 |
| Chippewa | under 2% | — | — | 35 min | — |
| Winter | under 2% | C− | C− | 32 min | $72,250 |
Same-state neighbors only. Spider Lake, Hunter and Chippewa: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Round 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 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 Round Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Round Lake?
$62,011 (±$4,829) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Round Lake?
5.8%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Round Lake?
25 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Round Lake work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hayward (25%, 18 mi), Hayward (14%, 14 mi), Eau Claire (4%, 87 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Round Lake walkable?
Round Lake is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Round Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Round Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Round 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. 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.