Photo: HuschlePropertyImaging.com · CC BY-SA 3.0Bagley’s household incomes are lower than in 93% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 17.7%, against 9.3% across Minnesota. For jobs and income Bagley is better than 5% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (B). Home is the office for 2% of workers, where Minnesota as a whole has 18%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Bagley: the figures worth knowing
Bagley is where the jobs are
Bagley has 1,376 jobs, 2.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,100 people are in town, 61% more than the 1,300 who live here. Day and night ↓
Bagley’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Bagley is Bemidji, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 17% of working residents (97) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Bagley workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 18% across Minnesota. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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; with 573 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Bagley’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Bagley’s grade.
Unemployment (6.6%) is left out: Bagley’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Bagley could be anywhere from D− to D.
How a workday changes Bagley
On a workday 386 residents head out to work, 187 work right here, and 1,189 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Bagley on a workday afternoon, 61% more than live here.
2.4 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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 Bagley’s workers travel
About 27% 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.
The trip to work from Bagley: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bagley workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 502 commuters (the 2% 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 Bagley
Where Bagley clocks in
17% 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.
Bagley makes things: 41% of its jobs are in goods
1,376 jobs are based in Bagley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bagley, 2013 → 2023: 1,268 → 1,376. 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 Bagley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Bagley gets around
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 512 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). 16.6% of Bagley households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bagley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bagley and other U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Medicine Lake MN | 1,342 | $184K | 2.7% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Dellwood MN | 1,148 | $225K | 4.1% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Louisville Township MN | 1,361 | $143K | 1.1% | 0.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,863 | Harper KS | 1,287 | $54K | 19.1% | 0.8% | 18% | D |
| 4,864 | Brodhead KY | 1,116 | $35K | 29.1% | 4.9% | 2% | D |
| 4,865 | Bagley MN | 1,310 | $45K | 17.7% | 6.6% | 33% | D |
| 4,866 | Summit MS | 1,417 | $29K | 45.8% | 9.8% | 2% | D |
| 4,867 | Crane MO | 1,509 | $37K | 34.2% | 6.5% | 8% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Bagley, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Around Bagley: the bordering towns
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bagley workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bagley | – | D | B | 20 min | $44,896 |
| Copley Township | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Copley Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bagley’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 Bagley: questions
What is the median household income in Bagley?
$44,896 (±$13,779) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bagley?
17.7%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bagley?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bagley work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bemidji (17%, 24 mi), Fosston (3%, 17 mi), Thief River Falls (3%, 54 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bagley walkable?
Bagley is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bagley without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bagley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bagley
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.