Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Minden have lower incomes than those in 98% of U.S. towns
Minden grades C for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. 26.7% of residents live below the poverty line (Louisiana 18.9%). About one in three work in Minden itself; outside it, Shreveport draws the most (19%, 32 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Minden in brief
Minden’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Minden is Shreveport, 32 miles away as the crow flies. 19% of working residents (831) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Minden draws workers from far and wide
The 6,171 jobs in Minden are filled from a wide area. Minden’s own residents hold 25% and the ten next-biggest home towns 18%; the other 57% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
What’s behind Minden’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Minden is better than 26% of U.S. towns, #80 of 161 in Louisiana. Unemployment holds Minden’s grade up (2.7%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($34,294, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Minden could be anywhere from C− to C.
The distance from Minden to work
About 16% 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.
Where Minden’s working residents head each day
Where Minden clocks in
19% of workers
9% of workers
2% 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.
How a workday changes Minden
On a workday 2,972 residents head out to work, 1,519 work right here, and 4,652 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Minden on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.37 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.
What work there is in Minden: 6,171 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Minden, 2013 → 2023: 6,450 → 6,171. 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 Minden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Minden: about 22 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Minden workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,091 commuters (the 6% who work from home are left out). Across Louisiana: 85% 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.
Few in Minden walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Minden is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns, #98 of 161 in Louisiana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.3% across Louisiana.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,335 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 13.2% of Minden households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Minden’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Minden is 2,033rd among 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 337 | Belle Chasse LA | 10,934 | $115K | 6.1% | 2.5% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 704 | Mandeville LA | 12,918 | $94K | 7.1% | 2.9% | 16% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 820 | Moss Bluff LA | 12,482 | $92K | 8.9% | 1.1% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,031 | Milford DE | 14,723 | $59K | 17.2% | 5.1% | 22% | C |
| 2,032 | Carencro LA | 13,224 | $63K | 24.5% | 6.7% | 5% | C |
| 2,033 | Minden LA | 11,103 | $34K | 26.7% | 2.7% | 34% | C |
| 2,034 | Berkeley MO | 8,026 | $44K | 35.1% | 5.7% | 4% | C |
| 2,035 | Jefferson City TN | 9,103 | $61K | 19.0% | 6.1% | 14% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Minden, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
Work in the towns next to Minden
The biggest share goes to Dixie Inn (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Minden workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minden | – | C | C+ | 22 min | $34,294 |
| Dixie Inn | 1% | — | — | 21 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Dixie Inn: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Minden’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Minden: questions
What is the median household income in Minden?
$34,294 (±$4,008) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Minden?
26.7%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Minden?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Minden work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Shreveport (19%, 32 mi), Bossier City (9%, 23 mi), Arcadia (2%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Minden walkable?
Minden is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Minden without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Minden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Minden
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. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.