August G. and Theresa Green House · Photo: Jeff the quiet · CC0Stevens Point draws 15,583 commuters a day, with 1.8 jobs for every working resident
Household incomes here are lower than in 77% of U.S. towns. There are 20,105 jobs in Stevens Point, against 11,125 working residents. The two grades for Stevens Point are C for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Stevens Point at work: what stands out
Stevens Point is where the jobs are
Stevens Point has 20,105 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A young workforce
31% of Stevens Point’s working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Stevens Point are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 22 across Wisconsin. That’s about 38 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.
Inside Stevens Point’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Stevens Point is better than 32% of U.S. towns, #330 of 362 in Wisconsin. Job access by car holds Stevens Point’s grade up (ahead of 57% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.6%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Stevens Point could be anywhere from C− to C+.
The daily commute in and out of Stevens Point
On a workday 6,603 residents head out to work and 4,522 work right here.
About 35,000 people are in Stevens Point on a workday afternoon, 34% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The kinds of work in Stevens Point
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Stevens Point, 2013 → 2023: 19,373 → 20,105. 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 Stevens Point’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Stevens Point: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Stevens Point workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,791 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.
Where Stevens Point’s workforce comes from
Where Stevens Point clocks in
4% 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.
How far it is to work from Stevens Point
About 29% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Stevens Point
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Stevens Point is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns, #12 of 362 in Wisconsin. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 11.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 9.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 14,617 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). 6.7% of Stevens Point households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Stevens Point’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 18,000 to 36,000, Stevens Point ranks 1,362nd of 1,645 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Muskego WI | 25,602 | $112K | 3.0% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | Mequon WI | 25,120 | $144K | 4.2% | 2.6% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 159 | Germantown WI | 21,050 | $100K | 4.9% | 2.1% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,360 | Adams Township IN | 35,669 | $60K | 16.4% | 6.0% | 12% | C |
| 1,361 | Willmar MN | 22,001 | $62K | 13.1% | 4.8% | 60% | C |
| 1,362 | Stevens Point WI | 26,377 | $58K | 16.6% | 4.4% | 41% | C |
| 1,363 | Grandview MO | 26,653 | $53K | 17.9% | 6.2% | 8% | C |
| 1,364 | Moses Lake WA | 27,469 | $75K | 15.8% | 4.6% | 40% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,645 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Stevens Point, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
How Stevens Point compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Plover (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Stevens Point workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stevens Point | – | C | A | 17 min | $58,031 |
| Hull | under 2% | A | C− | 20 min | $105,652 |
| Whiting | under 2% | B | B+ | 14 min | $73,063 |
| Plover | under 2% | B+ | C+ | 16 min | $90,481 |
| Plover | 8% | B | C+ | 18 min | $88,042 |
| Stockton | under 2% | A− | C− | 24 min | $87,632 |
| Linwood | under 2% | B+ | D | 20 min | $81,875 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Stevens Point’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 Stevens Point: questions
What is the median household income in Stevens Point?
$58,031 (±$5,074) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Stevens Point?
16.6%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Stevens Point?
17 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Stevens Point work?
41% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Plover (8%, 4 mi), Wausau (4%, 30 mi), Wisconsin Rapids (3%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Stevens Point walkable?
Stevens Point is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Stevens Point without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Stevens Point, from the people who make the trip.
More of Stevens Point
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.