Guest, Sign inJoin
Work & commute in Lake Ripley · A commuter town

98% of Lake Ripley’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Lake Ripley for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Fort Atkinson (12%), Madison (10%) and Cambridge (6%). Half commute less than 17 miles.

Work in town
2%
12 of 766 working residents
Typical commute
17 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
29 min
More than WI (22 min)
Work from home
17%
More than WI (13%)
Jobs based here
116
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Lake Ripley?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

12% of working residents work in Fort Atkinson

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

Cambridge: 45 residents work here (6%)Deerfield: 40 residents work here (5%)Lake Mills: 27 residents work here (4%)Jefferson: 39 residents work here (5%)Fort Atkinson: 90 residents work here (12%)Sun Prairie: 14 residents work here (2%)Janesville: 23 residents work here (3%)Madison: 74 residents work here (10%)Milwaukee: 30 residents work here (4%)JeffersonOakland: 19 residents work here (2%)DeerfieldChristianaLake RipleyFort AtkinsonMadisonCambridgeDeerfieldJeffersonMilwaukeeLake Ripley
1
Fort Atkinson9.5 mi away
12%90
2
Madison22.9 mi away
10%74
3
Cambridge1.6 mi away
6%45
4
Deerfield5.2 mi away
5%40
5
Jefferson9.2 mi away
5%39
6
Milwaukee51.8 mi away
4%30
7
Lake Mills6.4 mi away
4%27
8
Janesville22.4 mi away
3%23
9
Oakland2.7 mi away
2%19
10
Sun Prairie17.3 mi away
2%14
Everywhere elseother towns and states
48%365
The top trips

Where Lake Ripley clocks in

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

Time on the road

About 29 minutes each way, longer than most of Wisconsin

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

A year of commuting
221 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Lake Ripley29 min
Wisconsin22 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
17%

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

About 2 in 10
Day and night

Lake Ripley quiets down on a workday

On a workday 754 residents head out to work, 12 work right here, and 104 people come in from elsewhere.

754live here, work elsewhere
12live and work here
104work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night1,900
Workday1,300
1,900live here− 750head out to work+ 100come in to work= 1,300on a workday

About 1,300 people are in Lake Ripley on a workday afternoon, 34% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.15jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.15 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 Lake Ripley commutes less than 17 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 mi60 miFort Atkinson: 12% · 9.5 miMadison: 10% · 22.9 miCambridge: 6% · 1.6 miDeerfield: 5% · 5.2 miJefferson: 5% · 9.2 miMilwaukee: 4% · 51.8 miLake Mills: 4% · 6.4 miJanesville: 3% · 22.4 miOakland: 2% · 2.7 miSun Prairie: 2% · 17.3 miFort Atkinson 12%Madison 10%Cambridge 6%Deerfield 5%Jefferson 5%Lake Ripley
Lake RipleyTop destinations (size = commuters)
35%Under 10 mi270 residents
29%10–24 mi219 residents
17%25–50 mi133 residents
19%Over 50 mi144 residents

About 19% 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

Mostly services: health care, schools and offices

116 jobs are based in Lake Ripley. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lake Ripley’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Lake RipleyJobs Lake Ripley residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms7%24%
Trade, transport & utilities7%19%
Services: health, schools, offices86%56%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less17%18%
$1,251–$3,333 a month17%23%
Over $3,333 a month66%59%

Who does it

29 or younger18%19%
30 to 5448%49%
55 and older34%32%
+197%

Jobs based in Lake Ripley, 2013 → 2023: 39 → 116. 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.

Next door

Lake Ripley and the towns next door

The biggest share goes to Cambridge (6%). Darker towns draw more of Lake Ripley’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

10%+5–9%2–4%1%Under 1%

Average commute minutes, one way

Cambridge25 min
Oakland26 min
Lake Ripley29 min
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 Lake Ripley

Lake Ripley home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Lake Ripley, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
Is the commute from Lake Ripley worth it?

Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.

Ask neighbors

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.

Post to Lake Ripley

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in