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Work & commute in Beaver Bay · A commuter town

99% of Beaver Bay’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Beaver Bay for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Silver Bay (27%), Duluth (10%) and Crystal Bay (4%). Half commute less than 41 miles.

Work in town
1%
2 of 159 working residents
Typical commute
41 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
21 min
Less than MN (23 min)
Work from home
11%
Less than MN (18%)
Jobs based here
52
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Beaver Bay?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

27% of working residents work in Silver Bay

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

IronwoodBeaver Bay: 3 residents work here (2%)LittleforkGrand Marais: 3 residents work here (2%)Ely: 6 residents work here (4%)Two Harbors: 6 residents work here (4%)Silver Bay: 43 residents work here (27%)Virginia: 3 residents work here (2%)CohassetDuluth: 16 residents work here (10%)Beaver BayFall Lake: 3 residents work here (2%)Lutsen: 6 residents work here (4%)Stony RiverSilver CreekCrystal Bay: 7 residents work here (4%)FinlandSilver BayDuluthCrystal BayElyTwo HarborsLutsenBeaver Bay
1
Silver Bay6.1 mi away
27%43
2
Duluth56.9 mi away
10%16
3
Crystal Bay17.7 mi away
4%7
4
Ely44.3 mi away
4%6
5
Two Harbors29.5 mi away
4%6
6
Lutsen40 mi away
4%6
7
Beaver Bay8.4 mi away
2%3
8
Grand Marais52.2 mi away
2%3
9
Virginia57.3 mi away
2%3
10
Fall Lake42.5 mi away
2%3
Everywhere elseother towns and states
40%63
The top trips

Where Beaver Bay clocks in

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

Next door

31% of Beaver Bay works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Silver Bay (27%). Darker towns draw more of Beaver Bay’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

Day and night

Beaver Bay quiets down on a workday

On a workday 157 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 50 people come in from elsewhere.

157live here, work elsewhere
2live and work here
50work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night560
Workday450
560live here− 160head out to work+ 50come in to work= 450on a workday

About 450 people are in Beaver Bay on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.33jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.33 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 Beaver Bay commutes less than 41 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 mi65 miSilver Bay: 27% · 6.1 miDuluth: 10% · 56.9 miCrystal Bay: 4% · 17.7 miEly: 4% · 44.3 miTwo Harbors: 4% · 29.5 miLutsen: 4% · 40 miBeaver Bay: 2% · 8.4 miGrand Marais: 2% · 52.2 miVirginia: 2% · 57.3 miFall Lake: 2% · 42.5 miSilver Bay 27%Duluth 10%Crystal Bay 4%Ely 4%Two Harbors 4%Beaver Bay
Beaver BayTop destinations (size = commuters)
30%Under 10 mi47 residents
10%10–24 mi16 residents
20%25–50 mi32 residents
40%Over 50 mi64 residents

About 40% 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

Mostly services: health care, schools and offices

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

Jobs based in Beaver BayJobs Beaver Bay residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms8%10%
Trade, transport & utilities10%21%
Services: health, schools, offices83%69%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less10%18%
$1,251–$3,333 a month12%32%
Over $3,333 a month79%50%

Who does it

29 or younger13%23%
30 to 5460%50%
55 and older27%27%
+11%

Jobs based in Beaver Bay, 2013 → 2023: 47 → 52. 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 21 minutes each way, about the MN average

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

A year of commuting
159 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Beaver Bay21 min
Minnesota23 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
11%

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

About 1 in 10
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 Beaver Bay

Beaver Bay home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Beaver Bay, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
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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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