Work & commute · Mountain Lake

Work & commute in Mountain Lake, MN

About one in 4 of Mountain Lake’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Windom (17%), Mountain Lake (6%) and St. James (5%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

23%

216 of 935 working residents

Typical commute

11 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

14 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 719 Mountain Lake residents head out of town to work, 216 work right here, and 411 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Mountain Lake.

719live here, work elsewhere

216live and work here

411work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Mountain Lake goes to work

Mountain Lake (in town)right here

23%216

Windom10.8 mi away

17%155

Mountain Lake4.1 mi away

6%55

St. James15.2 mi away

5%51

Jackson22.1 mi away

2%22

Midway3 mi away

2%22

Mankato49.7 mi away

2%20

Springfield20.6 mi away

2%18

Great Bend13.3 mi away

2%17

Butterfield6.6 mi away

2%16

Everywhere elseother towns and states

37%343

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

How far

How far Mountain Lake commutes

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

42%

27%

11%

20%

42%Under 10 mi

27%10–24 mi

11%25–50 mi

20%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Mountain Lake is a commuter town

0.67jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Mountain Lake are

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

Jobs based in Mountain Lake

627 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)32%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)51%

$1,250 a month or less19%

$1,251–$3,333 a month29%

Over $3,333 a month52%

Jobs Mountain Lake residents hold

935 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)40%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)44%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month26%

Over $3,333 a month57%

+8%

Jobs based in Mountain Lake, 2013 → 2023: 583 → 627. 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.