Work & commute · Ideal

Work & commute in Ideal, MN

Most working residents leave Ideal for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Crosslake (12%), Brainerd (9%) and Pequot Lakes (8%). Half commute less than 20 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

16 of 494 working residents

Typical commute

20 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

25 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

27%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 478 Ideal residents head out of town to work, 16 work right here, and 194 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Ideal.

478live here, work elsewhere

16live and work here

194work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Ideal goes to work

Crosslake4.9 mi away

12%57

Brainerd22 mi away

9%44

Pequot Lakes7.2 mi away

8%39

Baxter23 mi away

6%28

Jenkins6.2 mi away

5%25

Nisswa12.8 mi away

5%23

Pine River9.9 mi away

4%22

Ideal (in town)right here

3%16

Duluth98.2 mi away

3%14

Breezy Point4.4 mi away

3%13

Everywhere elseother towns and states

43%213

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

How far

How far Ideal commutes

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

37%

26%

30%

37%Under 10 mi

26%10–24 mi

7%25–50 mi

30%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Ideal is a commuter town

0.43jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Ideal are

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

Jobs based in Ideal

210 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities7%

Services (health, schools, offices…)80%

$1,250 a month or less38%

$1,251–$3,333 a month32%

Over $3,333 a month30%

Jobs Ideal residents hold

494 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)21%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)61%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month28%

Over $3,333 a month55%

+100%

Jobs based in Ideal, 2013 → 2023: 105 → 210. 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.