Owen A. and Emma J. Garretson House · Photo: Jim Roberts · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs and the daily commute in St. Paul
Hardly any stay in St. Paul for work; outside it, Fort Madison is the main destination (20%, 14 miles). 0% of workers have no commute at all, where Iowa as a whole has 11%. Commuters spend 26 minutes getting to work on average; Iowa averages 20, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
A workday in St. Paul: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 46 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 52 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.13 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where people from St. Paul work
Where St. Paul clocks in
20% of workers
11% of workers
7% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
A place that makes things: 90% of St. Paul’s jobs are in goods
52 jobs are based in St. Paul.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Paul, 2013 → 2023: 62 → 52. 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.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs St. Paul’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from St. Paul: about 26 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Paul workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 43 commuters (the 0% who work from home are left out). Across Iowa: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from St. Paul
About 30% 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.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in St. Paul: questions
What is the median household income in St. Paul?
$72,500 (±$43,374) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Paul?
0.0%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Paul?
26 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. Paul work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Madison (20%, 14 mi), Mount Pleasant (11%, 14 mi), West Point (7%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around St. Paul without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Paul, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Paul
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.