Work & commute · Prairie Lake

Work & commute in Prairie Lake, WI

Most working residents leave Prairie Lake for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Chetek (14%), Rice Lake (13%) and Eau Claire (6%). Half commute less than 23 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

15 of 774 working residents

Typical commute

23 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

25 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 759 Prairie Lake residents head out of town to work, 15 work right here, and 143 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Prairie Lake.

759live here, work elsewhere

15live and work here

143work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Prairie Lake goes to work

Chetek4 mi away

14%107

Rice Lake10.6 mi away

13%97

Eau Claire37.4 mi away

6%50

Barron7.2 mi away

6%45

Chippewa Falls32.2 mi away

3%24

Menomonie31.8 mi away

2%18

Chetek6.5 mi away

2%17

Cameron4.9 mi away

2%16

Prairie Lake (in town)right here

2%15

Bloomer19.7 mi away

2%13

Everywhere elseother towns and states

48%372

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

How far

How far Prairie Lake commutes

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

35%

16%

21%

28%

35%Under 10 mi

16%10–24 mi

21%25–50 mi

28%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Prairie Lake is a commuter town

0.20jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Prairie Lake are

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

Jobs based in Prairie Lake

158 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)25%

Trade, transport & utilities12%

Services (health, schools, offices…)63%

$1,250 a month or less11%

$1,251–$3,333 a month25%

Over $3,333 a month64%

Jobs Prairie Lake residents hold

774 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)29%

Trade, transport & utilities23%

Services (health, schools, offices…)49%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month60%

−8%

Jobs based in Prairie Lake, 2013 → 2023: 172 → 158. 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.