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Work & commute in Fish Lake · A commuter town

100% of Fish Lake’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Fish Lake for work: only 0% work in town. The top destinations are Jackson (26%), Windom (13%) and Spirit Lake (8%). Half commute less than 25 miles.

Work in town
0%
0 of 39 working residents
Typical commute
25 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
19 min
Less than MN (23 min)
Work from home
4%
Less than MN (18%)
Jobs based here
0
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Fish Lake?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

26% of working residents work in Jackson

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

Spirit Lake: 3 residents work here (8%)Estherville: 1 residents work here (3%)Sioux Center: 1 residents work here (3%)Sherburn: 1 residents work here (3%)Truman: 1 residents work here (3%)Mountain Lake: 1 residents work here (3%)Windom: 5 residents work here (13%)Montevideo: 1 residents work here (3%)Jackson: 10 residents work here (26%)Sioux Falls: 2 residents work here (5%)LakesideChristianiaFish LakeJacksonWindomSpirit LakeSioux FallsEsthervilleSioux CenterFish Lake
1
Jackson15 mi away
26%10
2
Windom4.3 mi away
13%5
3
Spirit Lake, IA29.3 mi away
8%3
4
Sioux Falls, SD86.7 mi away
5%2
5
Estherville, IA32.1 mi away
3%1
6
Sioux Center, IA77.2 mi away
3%1
7
Sherburn20.4 mi away
3%1
8
Truman30.4 mi away
3%1
9
Mountain Lake9.4 mi away
3%1
10
Montevideo83.6 mi away
3%1
Everywhere elseother towns and states
33%13
The top trips

Where Fish Lake clocks in

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

Day and night

Fish Lake quiets down on a workday

On a workday 39 residents head out to work, 0 work right here, and 0 people come in from elsewhere.

39live here, work elsewhere
0live and work here
0work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night93
Workday54
93live here− 39head out to work+ 0come in to work= 54on a workday

About 54 people are in Fish Lake on a workday afternoon, 42% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.00jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.00 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 Fish Lake commutes less than 25 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 miJackson: 26% · 15 miWindom: 13% · 4.3 miSpirit Lake: 8% · 29.3 miSioux Falls: 5% · 86.7 miEstherville: 3% · 32.1 miSioux Center: 3% · 77.2 miSherburn: 3% · 20.4 miTruman: 3% · 30.4 miMountain Lake: 3% · 9.4 miMontevideo: 3% · 83.6 miJackson 26%Windom 13%Spirit Lake 8%Sioux Falls 5%Estherville 3%Fish Lake
Fish LakeTop destinations (size = commuters)
18%Under 10 mi7 residents
33%10–24 mi13 residents
21%25–50 mi8 residents
28%Over 50 mi11 residents

About 28% 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.

Time on the road

About 19 minutes each way, quicker than most of Minnesota

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

A year of commuting
146 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Fish Lake19 min
Minnesota23 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
4%

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

About 0 in 10
Next door

Fish Lake and the towns next door

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

10%+5–9%2–4%1%Under 1%

Average commute minutes, one way

Fish Lake19 min
Christiania19 min
Lakeside20 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 Fish Lake

Fish Lake home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Fish Lake, 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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