With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Three Lakes works elsewhere
Three Lakes grades C− for jobs and income and D for walkability. 545 jobs are based in Three Lakes, against 996 working residents. About one in seven work in Three Lakes itself; outside it, Rhinelander draws the most (14%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Three Lakes and work: the main findings
A big share show a job far from home
35% 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 ↓
Many jobs in Three Lakes pay little
27% of the jobs based in Three Lakes pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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 996 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Three Lakes: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Three Lakes is better than 24% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Three Lakes’ grade up (9.8%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (2.7%) is left out: Three Lakes’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, Three Lakes could be anywhere from D to C+.
How many miles Three Lakes commutes
About 35% 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.
The kinds of work in Three Lakes
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Three Lakes, 2013 → 2023: 526 → 545. 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 Three Lakes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Three Lakes by day
On a workday 832 residents head out to work, 164 work right here, and 381 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Three Lakes on a workday afternoon, 18% 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.
Commuting out of Three Lakes: the destinations
Where Three Lakes clocks in
14% of workers
11% 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.
Getting to work from Three Lakes takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Three Lakes workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 836 commuters (the 10% 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.
For most of Three Lakes, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Three Lakes is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 934 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). 3.8% of Three Lakes households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Three Lakes’ commuters take a bus or train.
Three Lakes is 3,754th of 5,207 U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | North Prairie WI | 2,193 | $153K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Vandenbroek WI | 1,701 | $129K | 1.6% | 5.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 84 | Sun Prairie WI | 2,291 | $127K | 2.0% | 1.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,752 | White Sulphur Springs WV | 2,133 | $46K | 23.2% | 1.4% | 10% | C− |
| 3,753 | Lafayette Township PA | 2,071 | $67K | 10.3% | 0.0% | 2% | C− |
| 3,754 | Three Lakes WI | 2,444 | $70K | 9.8% | 2.7% | 16% | C− |
| 3,755 | Thruston KY | 2,581 | $70K | 21.6% | 6.5% | 1% | C− |
| 3,756 | Fairforest SC | 1,727 | $52K | 28.9% | 0.0% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Three Lakes, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Around Three Lakes: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Lincoln (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Three Lakes workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Three Lakes | – | C− | D | 25 min | $70,250 |
| Sugar Camp | 3% | B− | C+ | 27 min | $79,250 |
| Hiles | under 2% | — | — | 43 min | — |
| Washington | under 2% | C | B− | 20 min | $85,379 |
| Piehl | under 2% | — | — | 31 min | — |
| Lincoln | 4% | B− | A− | 21 min | $77,500 |
| Stella | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Hiles, Piehl and Stella: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Three Lakes’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 Three Lakes: questions
What is the median household income in Three Lakes?
$70,250 (±$19,174) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Three Lakes?
9.8%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Three Lakes?
25 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Three Lakes work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rhinelander (14%, 18 mi), Eagle River (11%, 10 mi), Lincoln (4%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Three Lakes walkable?
Three Lakes is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Three Lakes 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 Three Lakes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Three Lakes
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.