Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY 3.0Wausau has lower household incomes than 67% of U.S. towns
14.6% of residents are in poverty, next to 10.6% for Wisconsin as a whole. For jobs and income Wausau is better than 38% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (A−). About two in five stay in Wausau for work; outside it, Weston is the main destination (8%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Wausau in brief
Wausau is where the jobs are
Wausau has 29,558 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Wausau are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 22 across Wisconsin. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Wisconsin worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
How Wausau earns its Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Wausau’s grade up (ahead of 63% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wausau could be anywhere from C to B−.
A workday in Wausau: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 10,777 residents head out to work, 7,323 work right here, and 22,235 people come in from elsewhere.
About 52,000 people are in Wausau on a workday afternoon, 29% 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.
The daily trip from Wausau: about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wausau workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16,730 commuters (the 14% 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 Wausau
Where Wausau clocks in
Lines 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.
65% of the jobs in Wausau pay over $3,333 a month
29,558 jobs are based in Wausau.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wausau, 2013 → 2023: 29,264 → 29,558. 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 Wausau’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Wausau commutes less than 5 miles
About 21% 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.
In Wausau, walking beats the bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 19,517 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). 9.0% of Wausau households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Wausau’s commuters take a bus or train.
Wausau next to U.S. towns of 28,000 to 54,000: 877th of 1,086 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Brookfield WI | 41,448 | $130K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | New Berlin WI | 39,953 | $101K | 4.1% | 2.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Oak Creek WI | 38,296 | $97K | 4.9% | 1.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 875 | Kiryas Joel NY | 47,147 | $50K | 37.6% | 2.2% | 41% | C+ |
| 876 | Palm Tree NY | 47,147 | $50K | 37.6% | 2.2% | 41% | C+ |
| 877 | Wausau WI | 40,188 | $64K | 14.6% | 4.9% | 40% | C+ |
| 878 | South Moline Township IL | 36,062 | $68K | 16.3% | 5.9% | 18% | C+ |
| 879 | Chelsea MA | 40,130 | $72K | 20.7% | 9.2% | 11% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,086 | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Wausau, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Wausau and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Schofield (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wausau workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wausau | – | C+ | A− | 15 min | $64,389 |
| Stettin | under 2% | A | C− | 22 min | $104,697 |
| Maine | under 2% | A | B− | 21 min | $110,721 |
| Rib Mountain | 3% | B+ | C | 19 min | $94,294 |
| Weston | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
| Schofield | 5% | B− | B− | 17 min | $65,583 |
| Texas | under 2% | B+ | C− | 21 min | $86,875 |
Same-state neighbors only. Weston: the same community as the village of that name, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Wausau’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 Wausau: questions
What is the median household income in Wausau?
$64,389 (±$3,515) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wausau?
14.6%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wausau?
15 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wausau work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Weston (8%, 7 mi), Schofield (5%, 4 mi), Rib Mountain (3%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wausau walkable?
Wausau is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wausau without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wausau, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wausau
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.