TownTapestry
Sign inJoin
WellsGood evening
Work & commute · Wells

Work & commute in Wells, MN

Most working residents leave Wells for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Mankato (14%), Blue Earth (7%) and Mapleton (5%). Half commute less than 34 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times
Work in town
3%
14 of 483 working residents
Typical commute
34 mi
Half commute less than this, straight-line
Average commute time
18 min
One way, from the Census survey
Work from home
6%
of workers, from the Census survey
Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 469 Wells residents head out of town to work, 14 work right here, and 842 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Wells.

469live here, work elsewhere
14live and work here
842work here, live elsewhere
Leave for workStayCome in
The map

Where Wells goes to work

MapletonWellsSt. JamesBlue EarthLuverneWindomPipestoneJacksonSt. PeterNorth MankatoWorthingtonMarshallAlbert LeaAustinFairmontMankatoEden PrairieMankatoBlue EarthMapletonNorth MankatoMarshallSt. PeterAlbert LeaFairmontEden PrairieWells
1
Mankato31.9 mi away
14%68
2
Blue Earth19.7 mi away
7%33
3
Mapleton16.9 mi away
5%23
4
North Mankato34 mi away
4%17
5
Wells (in town)right here
3%14
6
Marshall113.1 mi away
2%12
7
St. Peter42.1 mi away
2%10
8
Albert Lea19.4 mi away
2%10
9
Fairmont37.1 mi away
2%10
10
Eden Prairie77.6 mi away
1%7
Everywhere elseother towns and states
58%279

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

How far

How far Wells commutes

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

8%Under 10 mi
22%10–24 mi
32%25–50 mi
38%Over 50 mi
Job hub or commuter town?

Wells is a job hub

1.77jobs per working resident
A job hub

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Wells are

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

Jobs based in Wells

856 jobs
Goods (factories, building, farms)33%
Trade, transport & utilities13%
Services (health, schools, offices…)54%
$1,250 a month or less25%
$1,251–$3,333 a month30%
Over $3,333 a month45%

Jobs Wells residents hold

483 working residents
Goods (factories, building, farms)26%
Trade, transport & utilities21%
Services (health, schools, offices…)53%
$1,250 a month or less18%
$1,251–$3,333 a month22%
Over $3,333 a month60%
+8%

Jobs based in Wells, 2013 → 2023: 792 → 856. 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.

The porch light’s on

Where to, neighbor?

You’re in Wells, MNView boundary

Nearby

All towns & citiesExplore the map

Local begins with a boundary.

See what belongs to your selected town.

Loading boundary…

Wells is your selected town. The feed includes posts assigned to this town, not a distance radius or ZIP code.

Neighborhoods narrow the feed further, while townwide announcements, events, and issues remain visible.

Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/18 · 2025-01-01
Open detailed map