George V. Siegner House · Photo: TheCatalyst31 · CC0Spooner’s household incomes are lower than in 93% of U.S. towns
About one in four stay in Spooner for work; outside it, Rice Lake is the main destination (7%, 24 miles). 21.6% of residents live below the poverty line, against 10.6% across Wisconsin. For jobs and income Spooner is better than 5% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Spooner apart on work
Spooner is where the jobs are
Spooner has 1,831 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
Why Spooner gets the Jobs & income grade it does
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Spooner’s grade.
Unemployment (9.9%) is left out: Spooner’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, Spooner could be anywhere from D− to D.
Spooner by day and by night
On a workday 824 residents head out to work, 279 work right here, and 1,552 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,300 people are in Spooner on a workday afternoon, 29% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
How far it is to work from Spooner
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.
The towns that send workers to Spooner
Where Spooner 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.
What work there is in Spooner: 1,831 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spooner, 2013 → 2023: 1,893 → 1,831. 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 Spooner’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Spooner: about 18 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spooner workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 755 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.
Spooner is easy on foot, hard by bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 891 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). 9.1% of Spooner households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Spooner’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Spooner sits among U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400
| # | 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% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | North Prairie WI | 2,193 | $153K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 79 | Sun Prairie WI | 2,291 | $127K | 2.0% | 1.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 80 | Verona WI | 2,092 | $150K | 2.6% | 2.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,563 | Hampton SC | 2,598 | $43K | 18.3% | 11.8% | 12% | D− |
| 4,564 | Adamsville TN | 2,081 | $51K | 28.6% | 4.8% | 9% | D− |
| 4,565 | Spooner WI | 2,531 | $45K | 21.6% | 9.9% | 25% | D− |
| 4,566 | Bass Lake WI | 2,896 | $56K | 21.6% | 7.8% | 12% | D− |
| 4,567 | Wynnewood OK | 1,957 | $40K | 22.1% | 1.6% | 21% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Spooner, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Spooner
The biggest share goes to Beaver Brook (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Spooner workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spooner | – | D− | A | 18 min | $44,737 |
| Evergreen | under 2% | D | D | 24 min | $58,487 |
| Beaver Brook | 4% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Bashaw | under 2% | C+ | C− | 19 min | $78,182 |
Same-state neighbors only. Beaver Brook: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Spooner’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 Spooner: questions
What is the median household income in Spooner?
$44,737 (±$15,893) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spooner?
21.6%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spooner?
18 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Spooner work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rice Lake (7%, 24 mi), Shell Lake (5%, 7 mi), Beaver Brook (4%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Spooner walkable?
Spooner is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spooner without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Spooner, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spooner
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.