Work & commute · St. Joseph

Work & commute in St. Joseph, MN

Most working residents leave St. Joseph for work: only 10% work in town. The top destinations are St. Cloud (31%), Waite Park (7%) and Sartell (4%). Half commute less than 8 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

10%

283 of 2,844 working residents

Typical commute

8 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

19 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 2,561 St. Joseph residents head out of town to work, 283 work right here, and 2,445 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in St. Joseph.

2,561live here, work elsewhere

283live and work here

2,445work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where St. Joseph goes to work

St. Cloud6.9 mi away

31%890

St. Joseph (in town)right here

10%283

Waite Park4.2 mi away

7%195

Sartell5.5 mi away

4%101

Cold Spring9.6 mi away

3%82

Sauk Rapids7.5 mi away

3%74

Minneapolis65.2 mi away

2%65

Collegeville7 mi away

2%58

Willmar47.9 mi away

2%48

Avon7.6 mi away

1%42

Everywhere elseother towns and states

35%1,006

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

How far

How far St. Joseph commutes

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

63%

22%

63%Under 10 mi

8%10–24 mi

7%25–50 mi

22%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

St. Joseph is balanced between jobs and homes

0.96jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.96 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in St. Joseph are

2,728 jobs are based in St. Joseph. Here is what they are, next to the jobs St. Joseph’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in St. Joseph

2,728 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)26%

Trade, transport & utilities25%

Services (health, schools, offices…)49%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month59%

Jobs St. Joseph residents hold

2,844 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)24%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month62%

+33%

Jobs based in St. Joseph, 2013 → 2023: 2,047 → 2,728. 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.