Work & commute · Cottage Grove

Work & commute in Cottage Grove, WI

Most working residents leave Cottage Grove for work: only 7% work in town. The top destinations are Madison (50%), Monona (4%) and Sun Prairie (3%). Half commute less than 10 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

259 of 3,976 working residents

Typical commute

10 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

25 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

17%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 3,717 Cottage Grove residents head out of town to work, 259 work right here, and 2,780 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Cottage Grove.

3,717live here, work elsewhere

259live and work here

2,780work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Cottage Grove goes to work

Madison11.3 mi away

50%1,980

Cottage Grove (in town)right here

7%259

Monona7 mi away

4%148

Sun Prairie6.5 mi away

3%132

Fitchburg13.3 mi away

3%112

Middleton15.2 mi away

3%103

Milwaukee62.5 mi away

2%78

Shorewood Hills12.2 mi away

2%61

Waunakee13.4 mi away

1%48

Cottage Grove2.7 mi away

1%48

Everywhere elseother towns and states

25%1,007

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.

50%

34%

11%

50%Under 10 mi

34%10–24 mi

6%25–50 mi

11%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Cottage Grove is balanced between jobs and homes

0.76jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.76 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Cottage Grove are

3,039 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

3,039 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)8%

Trade, transport & utilities33%

Services (health, schools, offices…)60%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month19%

Over $3,333 a month66%

Jobs Cottage Grove residents hold

3,976 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)69%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month16%

Over $3,333 a month70%

+78%

Jobs based in Cottage Grove, 2013 → 2023: 1,705 → 3,039. 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.