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Work & commute in Hill Lake · A commuter town

99% of Hill Lake’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Hill Lake for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Grand Rapids (22%), Aitkin (11%) and Hill City (9%). Half commute less than 33 miles.

Work in town
1%
2 of 201 working residents
Typical commute
33 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
25 min
More than MN (23 min)
Work from home
15%
Less than MN (18%)
Jobs based here
12
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Hill Lake?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

22% of working residents work in Grand Rapids

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

SchaumburgHill City: 18 residents work here (9%)Aitkin: 22 residents work here (11%)Brainerd: 5 residents work here (2%)Grand Rapids: 45 residents work here (22%)St. Cloud: 4 residents work here (2%)Bloomington: 3 residents work here (1%)Plymouth: 3 residents work here (1%)Minneapolis: 8 residents work here (4%)SpangHill LakeNashwauk: 4 residents work here (2%)HarrisMacvilleShamrock: 4 residents work here (2%)Grand RapidsAitkinHill CityMinneapolisBrainerdSt. CloudHill Lake
1
Grand Rapids17.7 mi away
22%45
2
Aitkin32.3 mi away
11%22
3
Hill City2 mi away
9%18
4
Minneapolis141.2 mi away
4%8
5
Brainerd51.4 mi away
2%5
6
St. Cloud104.4 mi away
2%4
7
Nashwauk35.8 mi away
2%4
8
Shamrock25 mi away
2%4
9
Bloomington150.2 mi away
1%3
10
Plymouth136.3 mi away
1%3
Everywhere elseother towns and states
42%85
The top trips

Where Hill 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

Hill Lake quiets down on a workday

On a workday 199 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 10 people come in from elsewhere.

199live here, work elsewhere
2live and work here
10work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night440
Workday250
440live here− 200head out to work+ 10come in to work= 250on a workday

About 250 people are in Hill Lake on a workday afternoon, 43% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.06jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.06 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 Hill Lake commutes less than 33 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 miGrand Rapids: 22% · 17.7 miAitkin: 11% · 32.3 miHill City: 9% · 2 miMinneapolis: 4% · 141.2 miBrainerd: 2% · 51.4 miSt. Cloud: 2% · 104.4 miNashwauk: 2% · 35.8 miShamrock: 2% · 25 miBloomington: 1% · 150.2 miPlymouth: 1% · 136.3 miGrand Rapids 22%Aitkin 11%Hill City 9%Minneapolis 4%Brainerd 2%Hill Lake
Hill LakeTop destinations (size = commuters)
10%Under 10 mi20 residents
31%10–24 mi63 residents
20%25–50 mi40 residents
39%Over 50 mi78 residents

About 39% 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

What the 12 jobs in Hill Lake are

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

Jobs based in Hill LakeJobs Hill Lake residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms0%17%
Trade, transport & utilities33%22%
Services: health, schools, offices67%61%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less50%18%
$1,251–$3,333 a month17%33%
Over $3,333 a month33%49%

Who does it

29 or younger8%25%
30 to 5425%47%
55 and older67%28%
−33%

Jobs based in Hill Lake, 2013 → 2023: 18 → 12. 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.

Time on the road

About 25 minutes each way, longer than most of Minnesota

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

A year of commuting
190 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Hill Lake25 min
Minnesota23 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
15%

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

About 1 in 10
Next door

Hill Lake and the towns next door

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

10%+5–9%2–4%1%Under 1%

Average commute minutes, one way

Hill Lake25 min
Spang26 min
Macville32 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 Hill Lake

Hill Lake home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Hill 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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