Work & commute · Cold Spring

Work & commute in Cold Spring, MN

Most working residents leave Cold Spring for work: only 19% work in town. The top destinations are St. Cloud (23%), Wakefield (6%) and Waite Park (5%). Half commute less than 13 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

19%

382 of 2,020 working residents

Typical commute

13 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

24 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 1,638 Cold Spring residents head out of town to work, 382 work right here, and 1,771 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Cold Spring.

1,638live here, work elsewhere

382live and work here

1,771work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Cold Spring goes to work

St. Cloud13.3 mi away

23%471

Cold Spring (in town)right here

19%382

Wakefield1.7 mi away

6%126

Waite Park10 mi away

5%101

St. Joseph9.6 mi away

2%50

Rockville5.3 mi away

2%40

Sartell15 mi away

2%36

Minneapolis66 mi away

2%34

Sauk Rapids16.3 mi away

1%30

Richmond4.1 mi away

1%28

Everywhere elseother towns and states

36%722

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Cold Spring commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

33%

42%

19%

33%Under 10 mi

42%10–24 mi

6%25–50 mi

19%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Cold Spring is balanced between jobs and homes

1.07jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.07 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Cold Spring are

2,153 jobs are based in Cold Spring. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cold Spring’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Cold Spring

2,153 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)31%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)53%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month60%

Jobs Cold Spring residents hold

2,020 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)30%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)53%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month20%

Over $3,333 a month64%

−11%

Jobs based in Cold Spring, 2013 → 2023: 2,410 → 2,153. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe 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 saysA 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 surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.