Work & commute · Cottage Grove

Work & commute in Cottage Grove, WI

Most working residents leave Cottage Grove for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Madison (47%), Cottage Grove (5%) and Monona (3%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

31 of 2,005 working residents

Typical commute

11 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

26 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

15%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 1,974 Cottage Grove residents head out of town to work, 31 work right here, and 649 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Cottage Grove.

1,974live here, work elsewhere

31live and work here

649work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Cottage Grove goes to work

Madison13 mi away

47%947

Cottage Grove2.7 mi away

5%91

Monona8 mi away

3%66

Stoughton9.7 mi away

3%65

Fitchburg13.6 mi away

3%64

Sun Prairie9.1 mi away

3%56

Middleton17 mi away

3%53

Cottage Grove (in town)right here

2%31

Milwaukee61.1 mi away

1%29

Shorewood Hills13.7 mi away

1%28

Everywhere elseother towns and states

29%575

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Cottage Grove commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

45%

38%

12%

45%Under 10 mi

38%10–24 mi

6%25–50 mi

12%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Cottage Grove is a commuter town

0.34jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.34 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Cottage Grove are

680 jobs are based in Cottage Grove. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cottage Grove’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Cottage Grove

680 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)55%

Trade, transport & utilities22%

Services (health, schools, offices…)23%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month16%

Over $3,333 a month71%

Jobs Cottage Grove residents hold

2,005 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)15%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)69%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month15%

Over $3,333 a month71%

+98%

Jobs based in Cottage Grove, 2013 → 2023: 343 → 680. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe 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 saysA 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 surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.