Shell Lake’s household incomes are lower than in 78% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Shell Lake is better than 22% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (B+). Below the poverty line: 8.9% of residents, against 10.6% across Wisconsin. About one in seven work in Shell Lake; the top destination outside it is Spooner (20%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Shell Lake in brief
The four measures behind Shell Lake’s grade
The poverty rate holds Shell Lake’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 12% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.5%) is left out: Shell 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, Shell Lake could be anywhere from D to C+.
Where in the region Shell Lake works
About 30% 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.
Shell Lake by day and by night
On a workday 451 residents head out to work, 72 work right here, and 668 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Shell Lake on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.41 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.
Out of Shell Lake to work: where people go
Where Shell Lake clocks in
Lines 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.
Shell Lake is a services town
740 jobs are based in Shell Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shell Lake, 2013 → 2023: 761 → 740. 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 Shell Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 19 minutes in Shell Lake
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shell Lake workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 478 commuters (the 12% 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.
For most of Shell Lake, work means a drive
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 545 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). 8.3% of Shell Lake households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Shell Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Shell Lake is 3,948th among 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Wind Point WI | 1,620 | $143K | 0.4% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,946 | Bremen OH | 1,528 | $61K | 15.7% | 5.0% | 3% | C− |
| 3,947 | Ingram TX | 1,846 | $45K | 21.1% | 2.7% | 6% | C− |
| 3,948 | Shell Lake WI | 1,414 | $58K | 8.9% | 0.5% | 14% | C− |
| 3,949 | Rudyard Township MI | 1,290 | $64K | 9.2% | 2.7% | 5% | C− |
| 3,950 | Highland Township MI | 1,190 | $77K | 14.7% | 2.4% | 2% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Shell Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Shell Lake
The biggest share goes to Beaver Brook (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Shell Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shell Lake | – | C− | B+ | 19 min | $57,500 |
| Bashaw | under 2% | C+ | C− | 19 min | $78,182 |
| Barronett | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Beaver Brook | 3% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Barronett and Beaver Brook: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Shell 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 Shell Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Shell Lake?
$57,500 (±$12,843) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shell Lake?
8.9%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shell Lake?
19 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shell Lake work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Spooner (20%, 7 mi), Rice Lake (5%, 18 mi), Eau Claire (3%, 66 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Shell Lake walkable?
Shell Lake is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shell Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shell Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shell 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.