Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0Shawano has lower unemployment (0.9%) than 95% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Shawano B−; getting around on foot earns it A−. Measured by household income, Shawano is behind 78% of U.S. towns. About one in four work in Shawano; the top destination outside it is Menominee (9%, 16 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 Shawano
Shawano trades workers with the towns around it
Shawano has about as many jobs (5,286) as working residents (4,518), but they are mostly different people: 3,235 residents leave for work each day while 4,003 people come in. Only 24% of the jobs in Shawano are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Shawano are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 22 across Wisconsin. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Wisconsin 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.
How Shawano earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Shawano is better than 48% of U.S. towns, #297 of 362 in Wisconsin. Unemployment holds Shawano’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($57,490, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Shawano could be anywhere from C+ to B.
In and out of Shawano on a workday
On a workday 3,235 residents head out to work, 1,283 work right here, and 4,003 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 (1.17 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.
From Shawano, about 16 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shawano workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,247 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.
The towns that employ Shawano’s residents
Where Shawano clocks in
9% of workers
5% 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.
The 5,286 jobs based in Shawano
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shawano, 2013 → 2023: 5,247 → 5,286. 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 Shawano’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Shawano commutes less than 17 miles
About 21% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Shawano
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Shawano is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #72 of 362 in Wisconsin. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.9% 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 4,524 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). 13.7% of Shawano households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Shawano’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Shawano is 1,711th of 2,780 U.S. towns of 6,800 to 13,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Waukesha WI | 8,507 | $131K | 3.0% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Genesee WI | 7,235 | $119K | 3.3% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Vernon WI | 7,464 | $120K | 3.0% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,709 | St. Peter MN | 12,275 | $65K | 16.8% | 2.0% | 33% | B− |
| 1,710 | Glenwood IL | 8,416 | $77K | 10.6% | 17.0% | 3% | B− |
| 1,711 | Shawano WI | 9,693 | $57K | 14.9% | 0.9% | 28% | B− |
| 1,712 | Hampton GA | 9,349 | $75K | 13.4% | 5.0% | 1% | B− |
| 1,713 | Canandaigua NY | 10,347 | $65K | 10.8% | 4.5% | 17% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,780 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Shawano, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Work in the towns next to Shawano
The biggest share goes to Richmond (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Shawano workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shawano | – | B− | A− | 16 min | $57,490 |
| Wescott | under 2% | C− | C− | 22 min | $72,738 |
| Waukechon | under 2% | B+ | B | 23 min | $102,375 |
| Richmond | 2% | B+ | B | 17 min | $85,636 |
| Belle Plaine | under 2% | C+ | C | 24 min | $74,779 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Shawano’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 Shawano: questions
What is the median household income in Shawano?
$57,490 (±$4,170) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shawano?
14.9%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shawano?
16 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shawano work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Menominee (9%, 16 mi), Green Bay (5%, 34 mi), Appleton (3%, 36 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Shawano walkable?
Shawano is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.6 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shawano without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shawano, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shawano
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.