Sign inJoin
Work & commute in Aitkin · A commuter town

96% of Aitkin’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Aitkin for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Aitkin (41%), Brainerd (4%) and Minneapolis (3%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Work in town
4%
18 of 422 working residents
Typical commute
11 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
15 min
Less than MN (23 min)
Work from home
9%
Less than MN (18%)
Jobs based here
251
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Aitkin?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

41% of working residents work in Aitkin

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

McGregor: 8 residents work here (2%)Crosby: 6 residents work here (1%)Aitkin: 172 residents work here (41%)Brainerd: 18 residents work here (4%)Baxter: 8 residents work here (2%)St. Cloud: 6 residents work here (1%)Duluth: 7 residents work here (2%)Minneapolis: 13 residents work here (3%)HazeltonLakesideRabbit LakeSpencerAitkinFarm IslandNordland: 8 residents work here (2%)ShamrockAitkinBrainerdMinneapolisMcGregorBaxterNordlandAitkin
1
Aitkin2.8 mi away
41%172
2
Brainerd25.2 mi away
4%18
3
Aitkin (in town)right here
4%18
4
Minneapolis112.1 mi away
3%13
5
McGregor21.9 mi away
2%8
6
Baxter28.7 mi away
2%8
7
Nordland8.1 mi away
2%8
8
Duluth78.3 mi away
2%7
9
Crosby10 mi away
1%6
10
St. Cloud73.5 mi away
1%6
Everywhere elseother towns and states
37%158
The top trips

Where Aitkin clocks in

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

Time on the road

About 15 minutes each way, quicker than most of Minnesota

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

A year of commuting
111 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Aitkin15 min
Minnesota23 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
9%

of Aitkin workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
Day and night

Aitkin quiets down on a workday

On a workday 404 residents head out to work, 18 work right here, and 233 people come in from elsewhere.

404live here, work elsewhere
18live and work here
233work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night860
Workday690
860live here− 400head out to work+ 230come in to work= 690on a workday

About 690 people are in Aitkin on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.59jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.59 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 Aitkin commutes less than 11 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 miAitkin: 41% · 2.8 miBrainerd: 4% · 25.2 miMinneapolis: 3% · 112.1 miMcGregor: 2% · 21.9 miBaxter: 2% · 28.7 miNordland: 2% · 8.1 miDuluth: 2% · 78.3 miCrosby: 1% · 10 miSt. Cloud: 1% · 73.5 miAitkin 41%Brainerd 4%Minneapolis 3%McGregor 2%Baxter 2%Aitkin
AitkinTop destinations (size = commuters)
50%Under 10 mi209 residents
13%10–24 mi53 residents
8%25–50 mi33 residents
30%Over 50 mi127 residents

About 30% 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

What the 251 jobs in Aitkin are

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

Jobs based in AitkinJobs Aitkin residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms9%16%
Trade, transport & utilities33%20%
Services: health, schools, offices58%64%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less13%18%
$1,251–$3,333 a month27%31%
Over $3,333 a month60%52%

Who does it

29 or younger12%23%
30 to 5453%50%
55 and older35%26%
+83%

Jobs based in Aitkin, 2013 → 2023: 137 → 251. 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.

Next door

Aitkin and the towns next door

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

10%+5–9%2–4%1%Under 1%

Average commute minutes, one way

Aitkin15 min
Spencer17 min
Rabbit Lake22 min
Farm Island30 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 Aitkin

Aitkin home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Aitkin, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
Is the commute from Aitkin worth it?

Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.

Ask neighbors

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.

Post to Aitkin

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in