Sumpter has 0.1 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs and income earn Sumpter C+; getting around on foot earns it D. Employers in Sumpter report 47 jobs for 493 working residents. Household incomes here are lower than in 75% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Sumpter, in a few figures
Sumpter is a place people come home to
There are 47 jobs based in Sumpter, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Sumpter has about 580 people in it, 43% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Sumpter’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Sumpter is Madison, 26 miles away as the crow flies. 19% of working residents (92) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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; with 493 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Sumpter’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Sumpter is better than 42% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Sumpter’s grade up (7.1%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($59,231, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (0.7%) is left out: Sumpter’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, Sumpter could be anywhere from C− to B.
Who leaves Sumpter for work, and who comes in
On a workday 490 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 44 people come in from elsewhere.
About 580 people are in Sumpter on a workday afternoon, 43% 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.
How far Sumpter’s workers travel
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.
19% of working residents work in Madison
Where Sumpter clocks in
19% of workers
9% of workers
6% 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.
A place that makes things: 34% of Sumpter’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sumpter, 2013 → 2023: 95 → 47. 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 Sumpter’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Sumpter spends getting to work: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sumpter workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 534 commuters (the 11% 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.
Sumpter is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sumpter is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 0.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 2.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 601 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). 4.8% of Sumpter households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sumpter’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Sumpter is 1,272nd of 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,270 | Torrey NY | 1,286 | $96K | 11.2% | 6.0% | 6% | C+ |
| 1,271 | Hartland Township OH | 1,035 | $73K | 9.1% | 2.9% | 0% | C+ |
| 1,272 | Sumpter WI | 1,030 | $59K | 7.1% | 0.7% | 1% | C+ |
| 1,273 | Moorcroft WY | 1,023 | $71K | 4.6% | 0.0% | 6% | C+ |
| 1,274 | Craftsbury VT | 1,291 | $84K | 6.6% | 0.0% | 5% | 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 Sumpter, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Sumpter
The biggest share goes to Merrimac (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sumpter workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sumpter | – | C+ | D | 25 min | $59,231 |
| Merrimac | 3% | A− | C− | 29 min | $109,375 |
| Baraboo | under 2% | B+ | B− | 18 min | $100,909 |
| Prairie du Sac | under 2% | A− | D | 22 min | $110,905 |
| Honey Creek | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Freedom | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Honey Creek: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Freedom: the same community as the town of that name, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sumpter’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 Sumpter: questions
What is the median household income in Sumpter?
$59,231 (±$11,805) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sumpter?
7.1%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sumpter?
25 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sumpter work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison (19%, 26 mi), Sauk City (9%, 7 mi), Prairie du Sac (6%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sumpter walkable?
Sumpter is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 2.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sumpter 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 Sumpter, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sumpter
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.