Work & commute · St. Cloud

Work & commute in St. Cloud, MN

44% of St. Cloud’s working residents work right in town. The top destinations are Waite Park (8%), Sartell (5%) and Sauk Rapids (3%). Half commute less than 4 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

44%

12,360 of 28,113 working residents

Typical commute

4 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

20 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 15,753 St. Cloud residents head out of town to work, 12,360 work right here, and 31,552 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in St. Cloud.

15,753live here, work elsewhere

12,360live and work here

31,552work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where St. Cloud goes to work

St. Cloud (in town)right here

44%12,360

Waite Park3.5 mi away

8%2,133

Sartell6.7 mi away

5%1,360

Sauk Rapids4.8 mi away

3%945

Minneapolis58.7 mi away

3%816

St. Joseph6.9 mi away

2%536

Willmar51.4 mi away

1%362

Minden7.9 mi away

1%346

St. Augusta5.4 mi away

1%299

St. Paul65.5 mi away

1%279

Everywhere elseother towns and states

31%8,677

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

How far

How far St. Cloud commutes

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

66%

21%

66%Under 10 mi

7%10–24 mi

6%25–50 mi

21%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

St. Cloud is a job hub

1.56jobs per working resident

A job hub

1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in St. Cloud are

43,912 jobs are based in St. Cloud. Here is what they are, next to the jobs St. Cloud’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in St. Cloud

43,912 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)17%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)65%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month21%

Over $3,333 a month67%

Jobs St. Cloud residents hold

28,113 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)20%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)59%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month57%

−5%

Jobs based in St. Cloud, 2013 → 2023: 46,063 → 43,912. 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.