Work & commute · Lester Prairie

Work & commute in Lester Prairie, MN

Most working residents leave Lester Prairie for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Glencoe (10%), Hutchinson (8%) and Waconia (6%). Half commute less than 17 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

28 of 903 working residents

Typical commute

17 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

30 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 875 Lester Prairie residents head out of town to work, 28 work right here, and 447 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Lester Prairie.

875live here, work elsewhere

28live and work here

447work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Lester Prairie goes to work

Glencoe9.7 mi away

10%91

Hutchinson16.6 mi away

8%74

Waconia12.4 mi away

6%53

Eden Prairie28.4 mi away

5%41

Winsted5.2 mi away

4%40

Chaska21.4 mi away

4%37

Lester Prairie (in town)right here

3%28

Howard Lake11.8 mi away

3%24

Chanhassen23.2 mi away

3%24

Norwood Young America9.7 mi away

2%17

Everywhere elseother towns and states

52%474

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

How far

How far Lester Prairie commutes

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

25%

39%

27%

10%

25%Under 10 mi

39%10–24 mi

27%25–50 mi

10%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Lester Prairie is a commuter town

0.53jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Lester Prairie are

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

Jobs based in Lester Prairie

475 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)59%

Trade, transport & utilities12%

Services (health, schools, offices…)29%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month18%

Over $3,333 a month68%

Jobs Lester Prairie residents hold

903 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)32%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)47%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month21%

Over $3,333 a month63%

+3%

Jobs based in Lester Prairie, 2013 → 2023: 459 → 475. 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.