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Work & commute in Chain O' Lakes · A commuter town

99% of Chain O' Lakes’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Chain O' Lakes for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Waupaca (26%), Farmington (9%) and Stevens Point (4%). Half commute less than 22 miles.

Work in town
1%
6 of 476 working residents
Typical commute
22 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
16 min
Less than WI (22 min)
Work from home
5%
Less than WI (13%)
Jobs based here
144
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Chain O' Lakes?

Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · The commute map

26% of working residents work in Waupaca

A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.

Weyauwega: 17 residents work here (4%)MarionWautomaNew London: 10 residents work here (2%)Waupaca: 123 residents work here (26%)Neenah: 12 residents work here (3%)Fox Crossing: 11 residents work here (2%)Stevens Point: 19 residents work here (4%)Appleton: 18 residents work here (4%)Fond du LacOshkosh: 10 residents work here (2%)Madison: 13 residents work here (3%)LindFarmington: 41 residents work here (9%)DaytonWaupacaBuena VistaKingChain O' LakesWaupacaFarmingtonStevens PointAppletonWeyauwegaMadisonChain O' Lakes
1
Waupaca4.9 mi away
26%123
2
Farmington3 mi away
9%41
3
Stevens Point23.2 mi away
4%19
4
Appleton38.6 mi away
4%18
5
Weyauwega11.5 mi away
4%17
6
Madison87 mi away
3%13
7
Neenah35.8 mi away
3%12
8
Fox Crossing34.8 mi away
2%11
9
New London21.5 mi away
2%10
10
Oshkosh36.7 mi away
2%10
Everywhere elseother towns and states
42%202
The top trips

Where Chain O' Lakes clocks in

Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.

Next door

35% of Chain O' Lakes works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Waupaca (26%). Darker towns draw more of Chain O' Lakes’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

Time on the road

About 16 minutes each way, quicker than most of Wisconsin

From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.

A year of commuting
119 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Chain O' Lakes16 min
Wisconsin22 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
5%

of Chain O' Lakes workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
Day and night

Chain O' Lakes quiets down on a workday

On a workday 470 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 138 people come in from elsewhere.

470live here, work elsewhere
6live and work here
138work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night910
Workday580
910live here− 470head out to work+ 140come in to work= 580on a workday

About 580 people are in Chain O' Lakes on a workday afternoon, 37% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.30jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.30 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.

How far

Half of Chain O' Lakes commutes less than 22 miles

Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

10 mi25 mi50 mi80 miWaupaca: 26% · 4.9 miFarmington: 9% · 3 miStevens Point: 4% · 23.2 miAppleton: 4% · 38.6 miWeyauwega: 4% · 11.5 miMadison: 3% · 87 miNeenah: 3% · 35.8 miFox Crossing: 2% · 34.8 miNew London: 2% · 21.5 miOshkosh: 2% · 36.7 miWaupaca 26%Farmington 9%Stevens Point 4%Appleton 4%Weyauwega 4%Chain O' Lakes
Chain O' LakesTop destinations (size = commuters)
38%Under 10 mi183 residents
17%10–24 mi81 residents
22%25–50 mi106 residents
22%Over 50 mi106 residents

About 22% 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.

The jobs

What the 144 jobs in Chain O' Lakes are

144 jobs are based in Chain O' Lakes. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Chain O' Lakes’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Chain O' LakesJobs Chain O' Lakes residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms9%35%
Trade, transport & utilities33%18%
Services: health, schools, offices58%47%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less31%14%
$1,251–$3,333 a month29%27%
Over $3,333 a month40%58%

Who does it

29 or younger33%22%
30 to 5438%51%
55 and older29%27%
−41%

Jobs based in Chain O' Lakes, 2013 → 2023: 243 → 144. 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.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Every worker, home to work. The Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.
  • Where the employer says. A job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.
  • Two surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
  • Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
Beyond the commute

More of Chain O' Lakes

Chain O' Lakes home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Chain O' Lakes, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
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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.

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