Albin Johnson Log House · Photo: Jeff the quiet · CC0With 0.0 jobs for every working resident, most of Spirit works elsewhere
Hardly any stay in Spirit for work; outside it, Phillips is the main destination (20%, 24 miles). 5 jobs are based in Spirit, against 104 working residents. A typical one-way commute lasts 39 minutes; Wisconsin averages 22, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who commutes out of Spirit, and who commutes in
On a workday 104 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 5 people come in from elsewhere.
About 200 people are in Spirit on a workday afternoon, 33% 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.
Commuting out of Spirit: the destinations
Where Spirit 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.
In Spirit, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spirit, 2014 → 2024: 3 → 5. 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 Spirit’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Spirit, about 39 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spirit workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 102 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.
Spirit’s commute, mile by mile
About 28% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
How Spirit compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Spirit workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit | – | — | — | 39 min | $77,500 |
| Knox | under 2% | — | — | 31 min | — |
| Rib Lake | under 2% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Hill | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Tomahawk | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Knox, Rib Lake and Hill: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Tomahawk: the same community as the city of that name, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Spirit’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 Spirit: questions
What is the median household income in Spirit?
$77,500 (±$16,982) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spirit?
9.7%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spirit?
39 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Spirit work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Phillips (20%, 24 mi), Prentice (11%, 13 mi), Worcester (7%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Spirit without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Spirit, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spirit
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.