Work & commute · St. Paul

Work & commute in St. Paul, MN

About one in 4 of St. Paul’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Minneapolis (20%), Bloomington (4%) and Edina (3%). Half commute less than 7 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

28%

35,948 of 129,209 working residents

Typical commute

7 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

21 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

20%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 93,261 St. Paul residents head out of town to work, 35,948 work right here, and 129,756 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in St. Paul.

93,261live here, work elsewhere

35,948live and work here

129,756work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where St. Paul goes to work

St. Paul (in town)right here

28%35,948

Minneapolis8.1 mi away

20%25,311

Bloomington13.2 mi away

4%4,797

Edina13.1 mi away

3%4,203

Roseville5.2 mi away

3%3,846

Eagan9.7 mi away

2%3,216

Woodbury9.3 mi away

2%2,451

Maplewood6 mi away

2%2,101

Eden Prairie18.7 mi away

2%2,029

St. Louis Park12.8 mi away

1%1,731

Everywhere elseother towns and states

34%43,576

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

How far

How far St. Paul commutes

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

67%

27%

67%Under 10 mi

27%10–24 mi

2%25–50 mi

4%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

St. Paul is balanced between jobs and homes

1.28jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.28 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in St. Paul are

165,704 jobs are based in St. Paul. Here is what they are, next to the jobs St. Paul’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in St. Paul

165,704 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)7%

Trade, transport & utilities10%

Services (health, schools, offices…)83%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month17%

Over $3,333 a month72%

Jobs St. Paul residents hold

129,209 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities15%

Services (health, schools, offices…)72%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month64%

−6%

Jobs based in St. Paul, 2013 → 2023: 176,341 → 165,704. 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.