Work & commute · Prior Lake

Work & commute in Prior Lake, MN

Most working residents leave Prior Lake for work: only 10% work in town. The top destinations are Minneapolis (9%), Eden Prairie (7%) and Bloomington (7%). Half commute less than 12 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

10%

1,289 of 13,433 working residents

Typical commute

12 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

25 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

25%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 12,144 Prior Lake residents head out of town to work, 1,289 work right here, and 5,956 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Prior Lake.

12,144live here, work elsewhere

1,289live and work here

5,956work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Prior Lake goes to work

Prior Lake (in town)right here

10%1,289

Minneapolis18.5 mi away

9%1,261

Eden Prairie8.6 mi away

7%977

Bloomington9.5 mi away

7%964

Shakopee3.6 mi away

7%878

Burnsville8.4 mi away

5%723

Edina12.1 mi away

5%628

St. Paul22.6 mi away

4%540

Savage4.4 mi away

4%532

Eagan15 mi away

3%444

Everywhere elseother towns and states

39%5,197

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

How far

How far Prior Lake commutes

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

37%

51%

37%Under 10 mi

51%10–24 mi

9%25–50 mi

4%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Prior Lake is a commuter town

0.54jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Prior Lake are

7,245 jobs are based in Prior Lake. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Prior Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Prior Lake

7,245 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)8%

Trade, transport & utilities9%

Services (health, schools, offices…)83%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month58%

Jobs Prior Lake residents hold

13,433 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)15%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)66%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month16%

Over $3,333 a month72%

+2%

Jobs based in Prior Lake, 2013 → 2023: 7,096 → 7,245. 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.