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Work & commute in Tainter Lake · A commuter town

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

Most working residents leave Tainter Lake for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Menomonie (25%), Eau Claire (14%) and Colfax (7%). Half commute less than 21 miles.

Work in town
2%
20 of 1,203 working residents
Typical commute
21 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
26 min
More than WI (22 min)
Work from home
12%
Less than WI (13%)
Jobs based here
173
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Tainter Lake?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

25% of working residents work in Menomonie

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

Colfax: 79 residents work here (7%)BloomerBoycevilleAltoona: 18 residents work here (1%)Hudson: 16 residents work here (1%)Chippewa Falls: 47 residents work here (4%)Menomonie: 295 residents work here (25%)Marshfield: 16 residents work here (1%)Eau Claire: 165 residents work here (14%)Madison: 16 residents work here (1%)Tainter: 28 residents work here (2%)ShermanSheridanElk MoundSand CreekUnion: 40 residents work here (3%)ColfaxTainter LakeMenomonieEau ClaireColfaxChippewa FallsUnionTainterTainter Lake
1
Menomonie7.2 mi away
25%295
2
Eau Claire21.4 mi away
14%165
3
Colfax6.7 mi away
7%79
4
Chippewa Falls23.3 mi away
4%47
5
Union17.8 mi away
3%40
6
Tainter0.9 mi away
2%28
7
Altoona24.3 mi away
1%18
8
Hudson42.6 mi away
1%16
9
Marshfield85.7 mi away
1%16
10
Madison178.3 mi away
1%16
Everywhere elseother towns and states
40%483
The top trips

Where Tainter Lake clocks in

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

Day and night

Tainter Lake quiets down on a workday

On a workday 1,183 residents head out to work, 20 work right here, and 153 people come in from elsewhere.

1,183live here, work elsewhere
20live and work here
153work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night2,600
Workday1,600
2,600live here− 1,200head out to work+ 150come in to work= 1,600on a workday

About 1,600 people are in Tainter Lake on a workday afternoon, 39% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.14jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.14 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 Tainter Lake commutes less than 21 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 mi80 miMenomonie: 25% · 7.2 miEau Claire: 14% · 21.4 miColfax: 7% · 6.7 miChippewa Falls: 4% · 23.3 miUnion: 3% · 17.8 miTainter: 2% · 0.9 miAltoona: 1% · 24.3 miHudson: 1% · 42.6 miMarshfield: 1% · 85.7 miMadison: 1% · 178.3 miMenomonie 25%Eau Claire 14%Colfax 7%Union 3%Tainter Lake
Tainter LakeTop destinations (size = commuters)
36%Under 10 mi438 residents
29%10–24 mi345 residents
13%25–50 mi153 residents
22%Over 50 mi266 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

Tainter Lake makes things: 51% of its jobs are in goods

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

Jobs based in Tainter LakeJobs Tainter Lake residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms51%25%
Trade, transport & utilities2%22%
Services: health, schools, offices47%53%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less24%16%
$1,251–$3,333 a month23%21%
Over $3,333 a month53%63%

Who does it

29 or younger28%24%
30 to 5441%50%
55 and older31%27%
+7%

Jobs based in Tainter Lake, 2013 → 2023: 161 → 173. 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 26 minutes each way, longer than most of Wisconsin

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

A year of commuting
202 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Tainter Lake26 min
Wisconsin22 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
12%

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

About 1 in 10
Next door

Tainter Lake and the towns next door

Darker towns draw more of Tainter Lake’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

10%+5–9%2–4%1%Under 1%

Average commute minutes, one way

Tainter Lake26 min
Colfax28 min
Sherman29 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 Tainter Lake

Tainter Lake home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Tainter Lake, 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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