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Work & commute in Crystal Bay · Balanced

98% of Crystal Bay’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Crystal Bay for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Silver Bay (11%), Two Harbors (8%) and Duluth (7%). Half commute less than 44 miles.

Work in town
2%
3 of 135 working residents
Typical commute
44 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
30 min
More than MN (23 min)
Work from home
11%
Less than MN (18%)
Jobs based here
104
Balanced

What kind of work town is Crystal Bay?

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

★ What stands out · Time on the road

About 30 minutes each way, longer than most of Minnesota

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

A year of commuting
232 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Crystal Bay30 min
Minnesota23 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
11%

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

About 1 in 10
Day and night

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 132 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 101 people come in from elsewhere.

132live here, work elsewhere
3live and work here
101work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night470
Workday440
470live here− 130head out to work+ 100come in to work= 440on a workday

About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.77jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

About as many jobs as working residents (0.77 per resident).

Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.

The commute map

11% 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.

Grand Marais: 3 residents work here (2%)Ely: 9 residents work here (7%)Tower: 3 residents work here (2%)Two Harbors: 11 residents work here (8%)Silver Bay: 15 residents work here (11%)Hermantown: 3 residents work here (2%)WoodburyDuluth: 10 residents work here (7%)MinneapolisBeaver BayFall Lake: 4 residents work here (3%)Lutsen: 5 residents work here (4%)Stony RiverSilver Creek: 9 residents work here (7%)Crystal BayFinlandSilver BayTwo HarborsDuluthElySilver CreekLutsenCrystal Bay
1
Silver Bay23 mi away
11%15
2
Two Harbors46.8 mi away
8%11
3
Duluth73.4 mi away
7%10
4
Ely36.7 mi away
7%9
5
Silver Creek32.1 mi away
7%9
6
Lutsen25.2 mi away
4%5
7
Fall Lake27.6 mi away
3%4
8
Grand Marais40.3 mi away
2%3
9
Tower52.3 mi away
2%3
10
Hermantown75.5 mi away
2%3
Everywhere elseother towns and states
47%63
The top trips

Where Crystal Bay clocks in

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

How far

Half of Crystal Bay commutes less than 44 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 miSilver Bay: 11% · 23 miTwo Harbors: 8% · 46.8 miDuluth: 7% · 73.4 miEly: 7% · 36.7 miSilver Creek: 7% · 32.1 miLutsen: 4% · 25.2 miFall Lake: 3% · 27.6 miGrand Marais: 2% · 40.3 miTower: 2% · 52.3 miHermantown: 2% · 75.5 miSilver Bay 11%Two Harbors 8%Duluth 7%Ely 7%Silver Creek 7%Crystal Bay
Crystal BayTop destinations (size = commuters)
13%Under 10 mi18 residents
7%10–24 mi9 residents
36%25–50 mi49 residents
44%Over 50 mi59 residents

About 44% 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

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

Jobs based in Crystal BayJobs Crystal Bay residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms2%21%
Trade, transport & utilities18%18%
Services: health, schools, offices80%61%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less33%15%
$1,251–$3,333 a month33%31%
Over $3,333 a month35%54%

Who does it

29 or younger25%18%
30 to 5441%53%
55 and older34%29%
+41%

Jobs based in Crystal Bay, 2013 → 2023: 74 → 104. 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

Crystal Bay and the towns next door

The biggest share goes to Fall Lake (3%). Darker towns draw more of Crystal Bay’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

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 Crystal Bay

Crystal Bay home →

Commuter talk

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

Town Square →
Weigh in
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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.

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