A job hub: Baxter has 1.8 jobs per working resident, and 6,145 people come in to work
Employers in Baxter report 6,978 jobs, against 3,884 working residents. Baxter grades B− for jobs and income and B for walkability. Commuters spend 19 minutes getting to work on average; the Minnesota average is 23, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Baxter: the gist
Baxter is where the jobs are
Baxter has 6,978 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Baxter and Brainerd trade workers both ways
Brainerd is the top workplace for Baxter residents (27%) and also where the most people who work in Baxter come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Baxter draws workers from far and wide
The 6,978 jobs in Baxter are filled from a wide area. Baxter’s own residents hold 12% and the ten next-biggest home towns 28%; the other 60% 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.
Where Baxter’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Baxter is better than 49% of U.S. towns, #201 of 273 in Minnesota. Unemployment holds Baxter’s grade up (2.3%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.1%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Baxter could be anywhere from C to B+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Baxter
On a workday 3,051 residents head out to work and 833 work right here.
About 12,000 people are in Baxter on a workday afternoon, 34% 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.
The towns that send workers to Baxter
Where Baxter clocks in
27% of workers
2% 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.
What Baxter’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Baxter, 2013 → 2023: 6,523 → 6,978. 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 Baxter’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 19 minutes to work from Baxter
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Baxter workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,635 commuters (the 19% 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.
Half of Baxter commutes less than 6 miles
About 28% 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.
Baxter is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Baxter is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns, #164 of 273 in Minnesota. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 5.7% across Minnesota.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,492 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). 6.4% of Baxter households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Baxter’s commuters take a bus or train.
Baxter is 1,680th of 2,810 U.S. towns of 6,500 to 12,400 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Albertville MN | 8,544 | $133K | 1.1% | 0.2% | 5% | A+ |
| 17 | Mendota Heights MN | 11,475 | $133K | 2.8% | 1.4% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Dayton MN | 11,402 | $149K | 3.0% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,678 | Boonville IN | 6,689 | $64K | 13.4% | 2.6% | 17% | B− |
| 1,679 | Versailles KY | 10,734 | $62K | 16.4% | 3.0% | 15% | B− |
| 1,680 | Baxter MN | 9,217 | $71K | 13.1% | 2.3% | 21% | B− |
| 1,681 | West Lincoln Township IL | 7,252 | $60K | 11.7% | 2.6% | 28% | B− |
| 1,682 | Redlands CO | 8,868 | $92K | 6.9% | 6.3% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,810 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Baxter, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Work next door: 27% of Baxter’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Baxter workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter | – | B− | B | 19 min | $70,688 |
| Crow Wing Township | under 2% | A− | C− | 23 min | $99,861 |
| Brainerd | 27% | D | A− | 20 min | $56,111 |
| Fort Ripley Township | under 2% | C | C | 31 min | $75,000 |
| Sylvan Township | under 2% | B+ | C+ | 23 min | $95,354 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Brainerd. Darker towns draw more of Baxter’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 Baxter: questions
What is the median household income in Baxter?
$70,688 (±$7,363) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Baxter?
13.1%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Baxter?
19 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Baxter work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Brainerd (27%, 4 mi), Duluth (2%, 106 mi), Nisswa (2%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Baxter walkable?
Baxter is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Baxter without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Baxter, from the people who make the trip.
More of Baxter
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.