La Crosse is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of Wisconsin. With a population of 51,380 people and 18 associated neighborhoods, La Crosse is the 12th largest community in Wisconsin.Unlike some cities, La Crosse isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in La Crosse are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, La Crosse is a city of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in La Crosse who work in office and administrative support (10.87%), food service (10.62%), and sales jobs (9.70%). Also of interest is that La Crosse has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. A relatively large number of people in La Crosse telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 7.80% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. La Crosse is also a major college town with a large number of people who are 18 years or older and attending college. As is often the case in college towns, the many students that live in La Crosse have a strong influence on the local culture and entertainment scene, which may seem dormant by comparison in the summer months when much of the student population is away. In the fall, the return of students has a reinvigorating effect on the community. Because colleges are lasting institutions, they have a stabilizing effect on the economy by providing direct local benefits such as jobs for faculty and staff and spending by students. La Crosse’s economy is one such example of this. Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of La Crosse spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 17.55 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.The population of La Crosse is very well educated relative to most cities and towns in the nation, where the average community has 21.84% of its adult population holding a 4-year degree or higher: 35.15% of adults in La Crosse have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree. The per capita income in La Crosse in 2022 was $32,811, which is middle income relative to Wisconsin and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $131,244 for a family of four. However, La Crosse contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. The people who call La Crosse home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of La Crosse residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in La Crosse include German, Norwegian, Irish, English, and Polish. The most common language spoken in La Crosse is English. Other important languages spoken here include Miao/Hmong and Polish.
