Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs and the daily commute in Ashby
A typical one-way commute lasts 27 minutes; Minnesota averages 23, the U.S. 26. About one in ten work in Ashby itself; outside it, Elbow Lake draws the most (21%, 11 miles). There are 256 jobs in Ashby for 190 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who leaves Ashby for work, and who comes in
On a workday 171 residents head out to work, 19 work right here, and 237 people come in from elsewhere.
About 540 people are in Ashby on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.35 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.
The towns that employ Ashby’s residents
Where Ashby clocks in
21% of workers
19% of workers
6% 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: 39% of Ashby’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ashby, 2013 → 2023: 211 → 256. 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 Ashby’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Ashby: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ashby workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 158 commuters (the 13% 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.
Miles to work from Ashby
About 21% 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 Ashby: questions
What is the median household income in Ashby?
$63,333 (±$23,066) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ashby?
13.7%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ashby?
27 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ashby work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Elbow Lake (21%, 11 mi), Fergus Falls (19%, 18 mi), Alexandria (6%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Ashby without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ashby, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ashby
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.