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Work & commute in Houlton · A commuter town

99% of Houlton’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Houlton for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Hudson (14%), St. Paul (8%) and St. Joseph (6%). Half commute less than 17 miles.

Work in town
1%
2 of 200 working residents
Typical commute
17 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Work from home
36%
More than WI (13%)
Jobs based here
132
A commuter town
Work out of state
50%
mostly Minnesota

What kind of work town is Houlton?

Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Time on the road

Working from home in Houlton

From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.

Working from home
36%

of Houlton workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.

About 4 in 10
The commute map

14% of working residents work in Hudson

A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.

Bayport: 5 residents work here (3%)Oak Park Heights: 9 residents work here (5%)Stillwater: 8 residents work here (4%)Oakdale: 5 residents work here (3%)Edina: 4 residents work here (2%)Woodbury: 6 residents work here (3%)Forest LakeSt. Paul: 16 residents work here (8%)Minneapolis: 5 residents work here (3%)North HudsonHudson: 27 residents work here (14%)New RichmondStar PrairieRichmondHudsonSt. Joseph: 11 residents work here (6%)SomersetHoultonHudsonSt. PaulSt. JosephOak Park HeightsStillwaterWoodburyHoulton
1
Hudson7.6 mi away
14%27
2
St. Paul, MN17.5 mi away
8%16
3
St. Joseph4.8 mi away
6%11
45%9
5
Stillwater, MN2.2 mi away
4%8
6
Woodbury, MN12.9 mi away
3%6
7
Bayport, MN3.6 mi away
3%5
8
Oakdale, MN10.2 mi away
3%5
9
Minneapolis, MN24.6 mi away
3%5
10
Edina, MN30.5 mi away
2%4
Everywhere elseother towns and states
52%104
The top trips

Where Houlton clocks in

Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.

Day and night

Houlton quiets down on a workday

On a workday 198 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 130 people come in from elsewhere.

198live here, work elsewhere
2live and work here
130work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night240
Workday170
240live here− 200head out to work+ 130come in to work= 170on a workday

About 170 people are in Houlton on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.66jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.66 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.

How far

Half of Houlton commutes less than 17 miles

Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

10 mi25 mi35 miHudson: 14% · 7.6 miSt. Paul: 8% · 17.5 miSt. Joseph: 6% · 4.8 miOak Park Heights: 5% · 2.6 miStillwater: 4% · 2.2 miWoodbury: 3% · 12.9 miBayport: 3% · 3.6 miOakdale: 3% · 10.2 miMinneapolis: 3% · 24.6 miEdina: 2% · 30.5 miHudson 14%St. Paul 8%St. Joseph 6%Oak Park Heights 5%Stillwater 4%Houlton
HoultonTop destinations (size = commuters)
39%Under 10 mi77 residents
28%10–24 mi56 residents
16%25–50 mi31 residents
18%Over 50 mi35 residents

About 18% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.

Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.

The jobs

Houlton makes things: 49% of its jobs are in goods

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

Jobs based in HoultonJobs Houlton residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms49%23%
Trade, transport & utilities12%19%
Services: health, schools, offices39%58%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less15%18%
$1,251–$3,333 a month15%16%
Over $3,333 a month70%67%

Who does it

29 or younger14%19%
30 to 5460%55%
55 and older26%27%
+40%

Jobs based in Houlton, 2013 → 2023: 94 → 132. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.

Next door

15% of Houlton works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to St. Joseph (6%). Darker towns draw more of Houlton’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Every worker, home to work. The 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 says. A 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 surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
  • Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
Beyond the commute

More of Houlton

Houlton home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Houlton, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
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Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer.

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