Photo: myself · CC BY-SA 2.5Wautoma ranks among the lowest-earning U.S. towns by household income
Poverty touches 26.1% of residents, where Wisconsin as a whole has 10.6%. Measured by household income, Wautoma is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. The two grades for Wautoma are D− for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Wautoma: the gist
Jobs & income in Wautoma: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Wautoma is better than 4% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Wautoma’s grade up (ahead of 28% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($32,361, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (9.9%) is left out: Wautoma’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, Wautoma could be anywhere from D− to D.
In and out of Wautoma on a workday
On a workday 721 residents head out to work, 183 work right here, and 1,505 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,200 people are in Wautoma on a workday afternoon, 33% more than live here.
1.9 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.
Where Wautoma’s workforce comes from
Where Wautoma clocks in
6% of workers
4% of workers
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.
The kinds of work in Wautoma
1,688 jobs are based in Wautoma.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wautoma, 2013 → 2023: 1,471 → 1,688. 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 Wautoma’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 22 minutes in Wautoma
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wautoma workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 653 commuters (the 7% 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 it is to work from Wautoma
About 27% 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 Wautoma, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wautoma is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Wautoma 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 700 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). 17.5% of Wautoma households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Wautoma’s commuters take a bus or train.
Wautoma next to U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,896 | McArthur OH | 1,764 | $49K | 26.7% | 4.8% | 12% | D− |
| 4,897 | Piketon OH | 2,201 | $41K | 30.1% | 10.0% | 9% | D− |
| 4,898 | Wautoma WI | 2,411 | $32K | 26.1% | 9.9% | 20% | D− |
| 4,899 | Sparta Township PA | 1,884 | $58K | 33.9% | 14.2% | 4% | D− |
| 4,900 | Springhill Township PA | 2,622 | $45K | 23.2% | 9.4% | 2% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Wautoma, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Work in the towns next to Wautoma
The biggest share goes to Dakota (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Wautoma’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 Wautoma: questions
What is the median household income in Wautoma?
$32,361 (±$8,216) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wautoma?
26.1%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wautoma?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wautoma work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wautoma (6%, 3 mi), Oshkosh (4%, 36 mi), Berlin (3%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wautoma walkable?
Wautoma is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wautoma without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wautoma, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wautoma
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.