Summit has 0.1 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
There are 41 jobs in Summit for 408 working residents. For jobs and income Summit is better than 32% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is near the bottom of U.S. towns (D−). Working from home is the commute for 6% of workers; Wisconsin has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Summit apart on work
Summit is a place people come home to
There are 41 jobs based in Summit, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Summit has about 680 people in it, 35% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Summit workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 37 minutes each way, against 22 across Wisconsin. Over a year that’s about 284 hours of commuting, 115 more than the state’s typical 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; with 408 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Summit’s Jobs & income grade
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Summit’s grade.
Unemployment (1.0%) is left out: Summit’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Summit could be anywhere from D to B.
Who commutes out of Summit, and who commutes in
On a workday 403 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 36 people come in from elsewhere.
About 680 people are in Summit on a workday afternoon, 35% 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 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 37 minutes in Summit
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Summit workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 363 commuters (the 5% 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.
26% of working residents work in Superior
Where Summit clocks in
26% of workers
18% 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 kinds of work in Summit
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Summit, 2013 → 2023: 82 → 41. 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 Summit’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Summit, by distance
About 23% 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.
Summit is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Summit is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Summit near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 384 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.9% of Summit households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Summit’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400, Summit ranks 1,641st of 3,133 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Nashotah WI | 1,298 | $148K | 1.1% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Maple Bluff WI | 1,305 | $199K | 3.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 67 | Kaukauna WI | 1,295 | $122K | 2.0% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,639 | Pine Creek Township PA | 1,300 | $68K | 9.9% | 5.3% | 9% | C |
| 1,640 | Farmington Township PA | 1,253 | $72K | 11.9% | 6.4% | 4% | C |
| 1,641 | Summit WI | 1,048 | $71K | 11.6% | 1.0% | 1% | C |
| 1,642 | Lake WI | 1,242 | $78K | 10.3% | 3.2% | 1% | C |
| 1,643 | Medley FL | 1,075 | $41K | 21.0% | 2.3% | 7% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | 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 Summit, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Summit
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Summit workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summit | – | C | D− | 37 min | $71,071 |
| Superior | under 2% | A | D | 27 min | $118,194 |
| Gordon | under 2% | — | — | 36 min | — |
| Oakland | under 2% | B | D− | 33 min | $88,828 |
| Dairyland | under 2% | — | — | 41 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Gordon and Dairyland: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Summit’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 Summit: questions
What is the median household income in Summit?
$71,071 (±$24,838) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Summit?
11.6%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Summit?
37 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Summit work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Superior (26%, 19 mi), Duluth (18%, 24 mi), Solon Springs (4%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Summit walkable?
Summit is near the bottom of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Summit without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Summit, from the people who make the trip.
More of Summit
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.