Photo: RRGreenough · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Tomah trail those of 86% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 4% of workers (Wisconsin 13%). Poverty touches 16.7% of residents, next to 10.6% for Wisconsin as a whole. Jobs and income earn Tomah C−; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Tomah in brief
Tomah is where the jobs are
Tomah has 6,629 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Tomah are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 22 across Wisconsin. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Wisconsin worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Tomah workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 13% across Wisconsin. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Tomah draws workers from far and wide
The 6,629 jobs in Tomah are filled from a wide area. Tomah’s own residents hold 24% and the ten next-biggest home towns 20%; the other 56% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Tomah: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Tomah is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #345 of 362 in Wisconsin. Unemployment holds Tomah’s grade up (4.3%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($51,274, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Tomah could be anywhere from D to B−.
The daily flow of workers through Tomah
On a workday 2,579 residents head out to work, 1,613 work right here, and 5,016 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Tomah on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
A commute of about 17 minutes in Tomah
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tomah workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,258 commuters (the 4% 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.
The daily trip into Tomah
Where Tomah clocks in
5% of workers
5% of workers
2% 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 6,629 jobs based in Tomah
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tomah, 2013 → 2023: 6,822 → 6,629. 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 Tomah’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Tomah
About 26% 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.
Tomah 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, Tomah is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #76 of 362 in Wisconsin. Both inputs place Tomah 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 4,415 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). 11.5% of Tomah households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Tomah’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Tomah is 2,364th of 2,816 U.S. towns of 6,700 to 13,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Waukesha WI | 8,507 | $131K | 3.0% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Genesee WI | 7,235 | $119K | 3.3% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Vernon WI | 7,464 | $120K | 3.0% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,362 | Bridge City LA | 7,297 | $57K | 24.1% | 13.3% | 1% | C− |
| 2,363 | Tarboro NC | 10,979 | $50K | 18.5% | 4.5% | 27% | C− |
| 2,364 | Tomah WI | 9,600 | $51K | 16.7% | 4.3% | 38% | C− |
| 2,365 | Canton Township PA | 8,269 | $61K | 19.7% | 8.3% | 6% | C− |
| 2,366 | Olney IL | 8,347 | $60K | 14.2% | 4.7% | 34% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,816 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Tomah, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Work in the towns next to Tomah
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Tomah’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 Tomah: questions
What is the median household income in Tomah?
$51,274 (±$3,373) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tomah?
16.7%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tomah?
17 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tomah work?
38% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are La Crosse (5%, 38 mi), Sparta (5%, 16 mi), Tomah (2%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tomah walkable?
Tomah is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tomah without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tomah, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tomah
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.