Work & commute · Garden

Work & commute in Garden, MN

Most working residents leave Garden for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Mankato (30%), Lake Crystal (12%) and North Mankato (12%). Half commute less than 12 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

11 of 464 working residents

Typical commute

12 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

21 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

13%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 453 Garden residents head out of town to work, 11 work right here, and 132 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Garden.

453live here, work elsewhere

11live and work here

132work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Garden goes to work

Mankato13.1 mi away

30%137

Lake Crystal3.1 mi away

12%57

North Mankato11.1 mi away

12%54

South Bend7.2 mi away

6%26

St. Peter21.4 mi away

5%22

Judson6 mi away

3%14

Garden City (in town)right here

2%11

New Ulm21.8 mi away

2%7

Rochester85.3 mi away

2%7

Waseca34.3 mi away

1%6

Everywhere elseother towns and states

27%123

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

How far

How far Garden commutes

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

28%

50%

15%

28%Under 10 mi

50%10–24 mi

7%25–50 mi

15%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Garden 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 Garden are

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

Jobs based in Garden

143 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)3%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)78%

$1,250 a month or less27%

$1,251–$3,333 a month36%

Over $3,333 a month38%

Jobs Garden residents hold

464 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)25%

Trade, transport & utilities22%

Services (health, schools, offices…)53%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month25%

Over $3,333 a month57%

+64%

Jobs based in Garden, 2013 → 2023: 87 → 143. 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.