Work & commute · Portland

Work & commute in Portland, WI

Most working residents leave Portland for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Madison (14%), Beaver Dam (7%) and Waterloo (5%). Half commute less than 20 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

6 of 533 working residents

Typical commute

20 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

28 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

12%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 527 Portland residents head out of town to work, 6 work right here, and 129 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Portland.

527live here, work elsewhere

6live and work here

129work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Portland goes to work

Madison26.1 mi away

14%77

Beaver Dam17.7 mi away

7%36

Waterloo4.1 mi away

5%28

Reeseville7.3 mi away

5%27

Columbus8 mi away

5%27

Watertown11.7 mi away

4%20

Fall River11.4 mi away

3%16

Sun Prairie14.8 mi away

3%15

Juneau17.1 mi away

2%11

Lake Mills11.1 mi away

2%8

Everywhere elseother towns and states

50%268

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

How far

How far Portland commutes

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

20%

44%

24%

12%

20%Under 10 mi

44%10–24 mi

24%25–50 mi

12%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Portland is a commuter town

0.25jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Portland are

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

Jobs based in Portland

135 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)81%

Trade, transport & utilities5%

Services (health, schools, offices…)13%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month39%

Over $3,333 a month46%

Jobs Portland residents hold

533 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)38%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)45%

$1,250 a month or less11%

$1,251–$3,333 a month21%

Over $3,333 a month68%

+6%

Jobs based in Portland, 2013 → 2023: 127 → 135. 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.