Photo: Myotus · CC BY 4.0Alexandria draws 9,742 commuters a day, with 2.1 jobs for every working resident
9% of workers have no commute at all (Minnesota 18%). Alexandria has 13,271 jobs for 6,355 working residents. Jobs and income earn Alexandria C+; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Alexandria, in brief
Alexandria is where the jobs are
Alexandria has 13,271 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 22,000 people are in town, 46% more than the 15,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Alexandria are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 23 across Minnesota. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Minnesota worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Alexandria: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Alexandria is better than 38% of U.S. towns, #224 of 273 in Minnesota. Unemployment holds Alexandria’s grade up (3.6%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($61,374, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Alexandria could be anywhere from C− to B−.
The daily commute in and out of Alexandria
On a workday 2,826 residents head out to work and 3,529 work right here.
About 22,000 people are in Alexandria on a workday afternoon, 46% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 18 minutes in Alexandria
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alexandria workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,672 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across Minnesota: 84% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The towns that send workers to Alexandria
Where Alexandria clocks in
2% of workers
1% 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.
What Alexandria’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alexandria, 2013 → 2023: 12,620 → 13,271. 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 Alexandria’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Alexandria
About 22% 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.
In Alexandria, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Alexandria is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #58 of 273 in Minnesota. Both inputs place Alexandria near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 7,337 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). 9.1% of Alexandria households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Alexandria’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Alexandria is 1,436th among 1,969 U.S. towns of 11,000 to 20,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Mendota Heights MN | 11,475 | $133K | 2.8% | 1.4% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Victoria MN | 12,447 | $196K | 2.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,434 | Waynesboro PA | 11,190 | $67K | 10.2% | 4.9% | 11% | C+ |
| 1,435 | Speedway IN | 14,373 | $60K | 17.5% | 5.8% | 7% | C+ |
| 1,436 | Alexandria MN | 15,045 | $61K | 12.0% | 3.6% | 56% | C+ |
| 1,437 | Lennox CA | 19,449 | $58K | 16.4% | 6.6% | 3% | C+ |
| 1,438 | Beaufort SC | 15,775 | $61K | 12.5% | 3.6% | 25% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,969 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Alexandria, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Alexandria and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to La Grand Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Alexandria workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexandria | – | C+ | A− | 18 min | $61,374 |
| Alexandria Township | 1% | A− | C | 21 min | $93,864 |
| La Grand Township | 3% | B | C | 21 min | $94,122 |
| Lake Mary Township | under 1% | B+ | D | 19 min | $102,969 |
| Carlos Township | 1% | A− | D | 21 min | $104,352 |
| Hudson Township | 1% | — | — | 24 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Hudson Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Alexandria’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 Alexandria: questions
What is the median household income in Alexandria?
$61,374 (±$6,550) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alexandria?
12.0%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alexandria?
18 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alexandria work?
56% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are La Grand Township (3%, 4 mi), Glenwood (2%, 15 mi), St. Cloud (1%, 63 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alexandria walkable?
Alexandria is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alexandria without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alexandria, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alexandria
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.