Rutland United Brethren in Christ Meeting House and Cemetery · Photo: TheCatalyst31 · CC0With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Rutland works elsewhere
Below the poverty line: 2.5% of residents, against 10.6% across Wisconsin. 399 jobs are based in Rutland, against 1,048 working residents. Measured by household income, Rutland is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Rutland: the gist
43% of Rutland works in Madison
451 working residents, 43%, have their main job in Madison, 15 miles away. That’s 43 times as many as work in Rutland itself. The commute map ↓
Rutland makes and builds things
43% of the jobs based in Rutland are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Rutland residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 16%. The jobs ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Rutland
On income, poverty and job access, Rutland is better than 94% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (0.6%) is left out: Rutland’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, Rutland could be anywhere from A to A+.
43% of working residents work in Madison
Where Rutland clocks in
43% of workers
7% 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.
Goods, not services: 43% of the jobs in Rutland
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rutland, 2014 → 2024: 244 → 399. 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 Rutland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Rutland by day and by night
On a workday 1,037 residents head out to work, 11 work right here, and 388 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Rutland on a workday afternoon, 34% 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 2024, primary jobs.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Rutland
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rutland workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 816 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Rutland
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.
In Rutland, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rutland is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Rutland 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 955 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.7% of Rutland households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rutland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Rutland is 242nd of 5,921 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 45 | Wind Point WI | 1,620 | $143K | 0.4% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| 46 | North Prairie WI | 2,193 | $153K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 240 | Haymarket VA | 1,602 | $174K | 3.2% | 4.0% | 2% | A |
| 241 | Peru Township OH | 1,534 | $125K | 4.0% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| 242 | Rutland WI | 1,910 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.6% | 1% | A |
| 243 | Fairmount TN | 2,110 | $137K | 3.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| 244 | Hudson IL | 1,750 | $110K | 2.3% | 1.5% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Rutland, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door is work for 10% of Rutland
The biggest share goes to Oregon (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Rutland workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rutland | – | A | D | 23 min | $105,000 |
| Stoughton | 3% | A− | A− | 22 min | $79,551 |
| Brooklyn | under 2% | A | D | 22 min | $108,929 |
| Dunn | under 2% | A+ | D | 22 min | $127,734 |
| Oregon | 7% | A | B | 23 min | $102,978 |
| Union | under 2% | A | D | 26 min | $99,279 |
| Oregon | under 2% | A+ | D | 28 min | $150,536 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Rutland’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 Rutland: questions
What is the median household income in Rutland?
$105,000 (±$12,399) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rutland?
2.5%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rutland?
23 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rutland work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison (43%, 15 mi), Oregon (7%, 5 mi), Fitchburg (6%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Rutland walkable?
Rutland is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rutland without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rutland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rutland
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.