Work & commute · Cotton

Work & commute in Cotton, MN

Most working residents leave Cotton for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Duluth (22%), Virginia (8%) and Cloquet (8%). Half commute less than 29 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

4 of 185 working residents

Typical commute

29 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

44 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 181 Cotton residents head out of town to work, 4 work right here, and 54 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Cotton.

181live here, work elsewhere

4live and work here

54work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Cotton goes to work

Duluth28.3 mi away

22%40

Virginia27.9 mi away

8%14

Cloquet27.9 mi away

8%14

Hermantown24.2 mi away

6%12

Hibbing30.2 mi away

6%11

Fayal19.8 mi away

5%10

St. Paul153.8 mi away

3%6

Superior, WI34.4 mi away

2%4

Cotton (in town)right here

2%4

Minnetonka159.3 mi away

2%3

Everywhere elseother towns and states

36%67

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

How far

How far Cotton commutes

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

24%

55%

18%

4%Under 10 mi

24%10–24 mi

55%25–50 mi

18%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Cotton is a commuter town

0.31jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.31 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Cotton are

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

Jobs based in Cotton

58 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)9%

Trade, transport & utilities26%

Services (health, schools, offices…)66%

$1,250 a month or less41%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month34%

Jobs Cotton residents hold

185 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)24%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)59%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month64%

−23%

Jobs based in Cotton, 2013 → 2023: 75 → 58. 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.