Fuhremann Canning Company Factory · Photo: Corey Coyle · CC BY 3.0About half of Sun Prairie’s working residents commute to Madison
Jobs & income A: better than 86% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #138 of 362 in Wisconsin.
Walkability A−: more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns · #54 of 362 in Wisconsin.
Household incomes here are higher than in 69% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 22 minutes each way (Wisconsin 22, U.S. 26). About one in seven work in Sun Prairie; the top destination outside it is Madison (45%, 12 miles).
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 1.5 transit trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 25.8 in Madison (EPA, 2020 schedules).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Sun Prairie
Nearly half of Sun Prairie works in Madison
8,432 working residents, 45%, have their main job in Madison, 12 miles away across the town line. That’s 3 times as many as work in Sun Prairie itself. The commute map ↓
Sun Prairie has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Sun Prairie went from 9,393 in 2013 to 13,319 in 2023, +42%. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What’s behind Sun Prairie’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sun Prairie is better than 86% of U.S. towns, #138 of 362 in Wisconsin. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Sun Prairie’s grade. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sun Prairie could be anywhere from A− to A.
45% of working residents work in Madison
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Sun Prairie clocks in
45% of workers
3% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
What the 13,319 jobs in Sun Prairie are
13,319 jobs are based in Sun Prairie. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sun Prairie’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sun Prairie, 2013 → 2023: 9,393 → 13,319. 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.
Sun Prairie quiets down on a workday
On a workday 15,814 residents head out to work, 2,739 work right here, and 10,580 people come in from elsewhere.
About 34,000 people are in Sun Prairie on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.72 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
About 22 minutes each way, about the WI average
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sun Prairie workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16,419 commuters (the 20% who work from home are left out). Across Wisconsin: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Half of Sun Prairie commutes less than 11 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Sun Prairie is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sun Prairie is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns, #54 of 362 in Wisconsin. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.8% across Wisconsin.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 20,441 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 15% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 9% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 64% 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). 5.1% of Sun Prairie households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Sun Prairie’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sun Prairie is 268th of 1,135 U.S. towns of 27,000 to 53,000 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Sun Prairie, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Brookfield WI | 41,448 | $130K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 59 | New Berlin WI | 39,953 | $101K | 4.1% | 2.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 71 | Oak Creek WI | 38,296 | $97K | 4.9% | 1.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 266 | Bountiful UT | 44,988 | $105K | 6.9% | 3.1% | 9% | A |
| 267 | Manalapan Township NJ | 40,987 | $153K | 5.2% | 5.0% | 7% | A |
| 268 | Sun Prairie WI | 39,227 | $91K | 6.2% | 2.3% | 15% | A |
| 269 | Chelmsford MA | 38,549 | $141K | 4.7% | 5.3% | 11% | A |
| 270 | Teaneck Township NJ | 43,329 | $144K | 5.6% | 5.7% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,135 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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.
46% of Sun Prairie works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Madison (45%). Darker towns draw more of Sun Prairie’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sun Prairie workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun Prairie | – | A | A− | 22 min | $90,942 |
| Windsor | under 2% | A+ | C+ | 21 min | $120,048 |
| Bristol | under 2% | A+ | B | 22 min | $141,010 |
| Burke | 1% | B+ | A | 19 min | $104,025 |
| Madison | 45% | A− | A+ | 19 min | $78,050 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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 Sun Prairie: questions
What is the median household income in Sun Prairie?
$90,942 (±$5,849) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sun Prairie?
6.2%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sun Prairie?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sun Prairie work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison (45%, 12 mi), Middleton (3%, 14 mi), Fitchburg (2%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sun Prairie walkable?
Sun Prairie is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sun Prairie without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 9% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sun Prairie, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sun Prairie
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.