Work & commute · White Bear Lake

Work & commute in White Bear Lake, MN

Most working residents leave White Bear Lake for work: only 11% work in town. The top destinations are St. Paul (14%), Minneapolis (12%) and Roseville (4%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

11%

1,209 of 11,448 working residents

Typical commute

11 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

22 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

21%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 10,239 White Bear Lake residents head out of town to work, 1,209 work right here, and 10,251 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in White Bear Lake.

10,239live here, work elsewhere

1,209live and work here

10,251work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where White Bear Lake goes to work

St. Paul9.2 mi away

14%1,638

Minneapolis14.3 mi away

12%1,368

White Bear Lake (in town)right here

11%1,209

Roseville7.7 mi away

4%416

Vadnais Heights2.7 mi away

3%367

Edina20.8 mi away

3%352

Maplewood3.3 mi away

3%342

Bloomington22 mi away

2%275

Woodbury11.8 mi away

2%250

Oakdale5.9 mi away

2%192

Everywhere elseother towns and states

44%5,039

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

How far

How far White Bear Lake commutes

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

47%

46%

47%Under 10 mi

46%10–24 mi

4%25–50 mi

4%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

White Bear Lake is balanced between jobs and homes

1.00jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.00 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in White Bear Lake are

11,460 jobs are based in White Bear Lake. Here is what they are, next to the jobs White Bear Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in White Bear Lake

11,460 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)11%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)72%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month58%

Jobs White Bear Lake residents hold

11,448 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)16%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)67%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month18%

Over $3,333 a month68%

+15%

Jobs based in White Bear Lake, 2013 → 2023: 9,931 → 11,460. 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.