About Washington Island

Washington Island is a tiny town located in the state of Wisconsin. With a population of 658 people and just one neighborhood, Washington Island is the 418th largest community in Wisconsin.

Because occupations involving physical labor dominate the local economy, Washington Island is generally considered to be a blue-collar town. 41.7% of the Washington Island workforce is employed in blue-collar occupations, compared to the national average of 24.7%. Overall, Washington Island is a town of construction workers and builders, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Washington Island who work in management occupations (11.02%), office and administrative support jobs (8.66%), and teaching (7.48%).

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 9.35% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. 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.

Washington Island is an extremely popular destination for tourists and seasonal residents. So much of the population is seasonal such that the town's population swells significantly during the vacation season, and drops again when the season ends. Because of this, much of the local economy is centered around tourism; some businesses may be operated only during the high season. During the low season, year-round residents will notice that the city is a substantially quieter place to live.

Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Washington Island spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 11.03 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the town are less than they would otherwise be.

Washington Island is a small town, and as such doesn't have a public transit system that people use to get to and from their jobs every day.

Washington Island Information and Demographics

In terms of college education, Washington Island is substantially better educated than the typical community in the nation, which has 14.96% of the adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree: 29.27% of adults in Washington Island have a college degree.

The per capita income in Washington Island in 2000 was $17,065, which is lower middle income relative to Wisconsin, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $68,260 for a family of four.

The people who call Washington Island home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Washington Island is White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Washington Island include German, Norwegian, English, Danish, Irish, Icelander, Scottish, Swedish, and Scandinavian.

The most common language spoken in Washington Island is English.