Work & commute · Tower

Work & commute in Tower, MN

Most working residents leave Tower for work: only 15% work in town. The top destinations are Virginia (16%), Greenwood (14%) and Duluth (8%). Half commute less than 23 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

15%

20 of 130 working residents

Typical commute

23 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

27 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

13%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 110 Tower residents head out of town to work, 20 work right here, and 318 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Tower.

110live here, work elsewhere

20live and work here

318work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Tower goes to work

Virginia22.9 mi away

16%21

Tower (in town)right here

15%20

Greenwood4.6 mi away

14%18

Duluth72.2 mi away

8%10

Mountain Iron25 mi away

5%6

Ely20.5 mi away

3%4

Hibbing42.7 mi away

3%4

Minneapolis202.7 mi away

2%3

Morse14.1 mi away

2%3

St. Cloud181.9 mi away

2%2

Everywhere elseother towns and states

30%39

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

How far

How far Tower commutes

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

32%

28%

35%

32%Under 10 mi

28%10–24 mi

5%25–50 mi

35%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Tower is a job hub

2.60jobs per working resident

A job hub

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Tower are

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

Jobs based in Tower

338 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)6%

Trade, transport & utilities41%

Services (health, schools, offices…)54%

$1,250 a month or less28%

$1,251–$3,333 a month40%

Over $3,333 a month32%

Jobs Tower residents hold

130 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities14%

Services (health, schools, offices…)72%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month36%

Over $3,333 a month51%

+86%

Jobs based in Tower, 2013 → 2023: 182 → 338. 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.