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Work & commute in Dell Prairie · A commuter town

97% of Dell Prairie’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Dell Prairie for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Wisconsin Dells (17%), Lake Delton (12%) and Portage (7%). Half commute less than 16 miles.

Work in town
3%
20 of 630 working residents
Typical commute
16 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
24 min
More than WI (22 min)
Work from home
8%
Less than WI (13%)
Jobs based here
235
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Dell Prairie?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

17% of working residents work in Wisconsin Dells

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

Adams: 15 residents work here (2%)Mauston: 19 residents work here (3%)Reedsburg: 22 residents work here (3%)Wisconsin Dells: 107 residents work here (17%)Baraboo: 25 residents work here (4%)Lake Delton: 76 residents work here (12%)Portage: 43 residents work here (7%)NewportLyndonSpringvilleDelton: 15 residents work here (2%)New ChesterNew HavenJacksonDell PrairieWestfield: 19 residents work here (3%)KildareWisconsin DellsLake DeltonPortageBarabooReedsburgMaustonDell Prairie
1
Wisconsin Dells3.8 mi away
17%107
2
Lake Delton7.1 mi away
12%76
3
Portage17.3 mi away
7%43
4
Baraboo15.4 mi away
4%25
5
Reedsburg16.3 mi away
3%22
6
Dell Prairie (in town)right here
3%20
7
Mauston18.1 mi away
3%19
8
Westfield16 mi away
3%19
9
Adams18.6 mi away
2%15
10
Delton9 mi away
2%15
Everywhere elseother towns and states
43%269
The top trips

Where Dell Prairie clocks in

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

Next door

17% of Dell Prairie works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Wisconsin Dells (17%). Darker towns draw more of Dell Prairie’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

Day and night

Dell Prairie quiets down on a workday

On a workday 610 residents head out to work, 20 work right here, and 215 people come in from elsewhere.

610live here, work elsewhere
20live and work here
215work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night1,600
Workday1,200
1,600live here− 610head out to work+ 220come in to work= 1,200on a workday

About 1,200 people are in Dell Prairie on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.37jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.37 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 Dell Prairie commutes less than 16 miles

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

10 mi25 mi30 miWisconsin Dells: 17% · 3.8 miLake Delton: 12% · 7.1 miPortage: 7% · 17.3 miBaraboo: 4% · 15.4 miReedsburg: 3% · 16.3 miMauston: 3% · 18.1 miWestfield: 3% · 16 miAdams: 2% · 18.6 miDelton: 2% · 9 miWisconsin Dells 17%Lake Delton 12%Portage 7%Baraboo 4%Reedsburg 3%Dell Prairie
Dell PrairieTop destinations (size = commuters)
36%Under 10 mi228 residents
34%10–24 mi214 residents
7%25–50 mi46 residents
22%Over 50 mi141 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 235 jobs in Dell Prairie are

235 jobs are based in Dell Prairie. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Dell Prairie’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Dell PrairieJobs Dell Prairie residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms17%21%
Trade, transport & utilities9%19%
Services: health, schools, offices74%60%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less16%18%
$1,251–$3,333 a month41%32%
Over $3,333 a month43%49%

Who does it

29 or younger31%23%
30 to 5448%43%
55 and older21%34%
−65%

Jobs based in Dell Prairie, 2013 → 2023: 668 → 235. 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.

Time on the road

About 24 minutes each way, longer than most of Wisconsin

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

A year of commuting
186 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Dell Prairie24 min
Wisconsin22 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
8%

of Dell Prairie workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
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 Dell Prairie

Dell Prairie home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Dell Prairie, 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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