Photo: Corey Coyle · CC BY 3.0Waupun has lower unemployment (2.4%) than 79% of U.S. towns
For 6% of workers, the job is at home (Wisconsin 13%). Jobs and income earn Waupun B−; getting around on foot earns it B+. About one in seven stay in Waupun for work; outside it, Fond du Lac is the main destination (12%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Waupun at work: what stands out
Why Waupun gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Waupun is better than 47% of U.S. towns, #299 of 362 in Wisconsin. Unemployment holds Waupun’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (16.6%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Waupun could be anywhere from C to B+.
The kinds of work in Waupun
2,661 jobs are based in Waupun.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Waupun, 2013 → 2023: 3,663 → 2,661. 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 Waupun’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Waupun by day
On a workday 3,790 residents head out to work, 766 work right here, and 1,895 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,300 people are in Waupun on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.58 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.
Where Waupun goes to work
Where Waupun clocks in
12% of workers
6% of workers
4% 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 trip to work from Waupun: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Waupun workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,347 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.
How far Waupun goes to work
About 20% 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.
Getting around Waupun: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Waupun is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #80 of 362 in Wisconsin. Both inputs place Waupun 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 4,629 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). 6.9% of Waupun households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Waupun’s commuters take a bus or train.
Waupun is 1,583rd of 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Waukesha WI | 8,507 | $131K | 3.0% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Greenville WI | 13,388 | $118K | 1.7% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Cottage Grove WI | 8,930 | $139K | 3.7% | 0.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,581 | Covington LA | 11,721 | $76K | 11.7% | 5.6% | 22% | B− |
| 1,582 | Geneva NY | 12,552 | $79K | 16.0% | 3.4% | 29% | B− |
| 1,583 | Waupun WI | 11,150 | $66K | 16.6% | 2.4% | 17% | B− |
| 1,584 | Tanaina AK | 9,646 | $106K | 8.6% | 4.9% | — | B− |
| 1,585 | Holly Township MI | 12,283 | $75K | 9.3% | 7.7% | 7% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Waupun, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Waupun
The biggest share goes to Alto (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Waupun’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 Waupun: questions
What is the median household income in Waupun?
$65,625 (±$11,727) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Waupun?
16.6%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Waupun?
18 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Waupun work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fond du Lac (12%, 18 mi), Beaver Dam (6%, 12 mi), Madison (4%, 51 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Waupun walkable?
Waupun is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Waupun without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Waupun, from the people who make the trip.
More of Waupun
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.