Photo: Tony Webster from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Earning a living in Swiss
Home is the office for 6% of workers (Wisconsin 13%). About one in ten work in Swiss itself; outside it, Webster draws the most (13%, 10 miles). Commuters spend 20 minutes getting to work on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Swiss, in a few figures
A big share show a job far from home
34% 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 ↓
The quickest commute around
Swiss’ 20-minute average trip is shorter than in any town next door, where it runs from 23 to 51 minutes. Next door ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Swiss than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Swiss fell from 428 in 2013 to 318 in 2023, −26%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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; with 264 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How far Swiss’ workers travel
About 34% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Swiss
318 jobs are based in Swiss.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Swiss, 2013 → 2023: 428 → 318. 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 Swiss’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Swiss on a workday
On a workday 241 residents head out to work, 23 work right here, and 295 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.20 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Swiss’ working residents head each day
Where Swiss clocks in
3% 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.
About 20 minutes to work from Swiss
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Swiss workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 279 commuters (the 6% 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.
Around Swiss: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Swiss workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swiss | – | — | — | 20 min | $63,000 |
| Blaine | under 3% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Oakland | under 3% | C− | B+ | 23 min | $62,857 |
| Webb Lake | under 3% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Union | under 3% | — | — | 51 min | — |
| Jackson | under 3% | — | — | 38 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Blaine, Webb Lake and Union: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Jackson: 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 Swiss’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 Swiss: questions
What is the median household income in Swiss?
$63,000 (±$9,589) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Swiss?
11.6%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Swiss?
20 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Swiss work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Webster (13%, 10 mi), La Follette (5%, 18 mi), Siren (3%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Swiss without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Swiss, from the people who make the trip.
More of Swiss
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.