At 2.6%, unemployment in Westby is lower than in 76% of U.S. towns
About one in seven work in Westby itself; outside it, Viroqua draws the most (15%, 6 miles). The two grades for Westby are B for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 6% of workers, against 13% across Wisconsin.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Westby and work: the main findings
What’s behind Westby’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Westby is better than 55% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Westby’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 30% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Westby could be anywhere from C to A−.
How a workday changes Westby
On a workday 988 residents head out to work, 158 work right here, and 901 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.92 per resident).
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 places Westby commutes to
Where Westby clocks in
13% 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.
In Westby, 28% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
1,059 jobs are based in Westby.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Westby, 2013 → 2023: 855 → 1,059. 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 Westby’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Westby: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Westby workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,073 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.
The distance from Westby to work
About 24% 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 commute in Westby is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Westby is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.8% across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 7.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,144 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). 4.4% of Westby households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Westby’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Westby ranks: 2,021st of 5,207 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,019 | Jermyn PA | 2,109 | $63K | 7.8% | 3.6% | 3% | B |
| 2,020 | Burns TN | 1,910 | $69K | 9.2% | 0.8% | 1% | B |
| 2,021 | Westby WI | 2,435 | $73K | 8.0% | 2.6% | 14% | B |
| 2,022 | Northfield MA | 2,857 | $103K | 6.8% | 4.6% | 10% | B |
| 2,023 | Andover NH | 2,456 | $89K | 10.5% | 2.0% | 11% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Westby, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Next door to Westby
The biggest share goes to Christiana (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Westby’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 Westby: questions
What is the median household income in Westby?
$72,875 (±$10,352) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Westby?
8.0%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Westby?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Westby work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Viroqua (15%, 6 mi), La Crosse (13%, 22 mi), Cashton (5%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Westby walkable?
Westby is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Westby without a car?
1% 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 Westby, from the people who make the trip.
More of Westby
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.