Church of the Good Shepherd-Episcopal · Photo: Elkman · CC BY-SA 3.0Blue Earth has 1.4 jobs for every working resident: 1,244 people commute in to work
Jobs & income C+: better than 42% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #217 of 273 in Minnesota.
Walkability A: more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns · #36 of 273 in Minnesota.
Household incomes here are lower than in 63% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 13 minutes each way (Minnesota 23, U.S. 26). About half work in Blue Earth; the top destination outside it is Fairmont (6%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Blue Earth
What’s behind Blue Earth’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Blue Earth is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #217 of 273 in Minnesota. Unemployment holds Blue Earth’s grade up (2.5%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Blue Earth could be anywhere from C− to B.
About 13 minutes each way, quicker than most of Minnesota
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blue Earth workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,387 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Minnesota: 84% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Blue Earth fills up on a workday
On a workday 701 residents head out to work, 708 work right here, and 1,244 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,700 people are in Blue Earth on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.39 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.
6% of working residents work in Fairmont
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Blue Earth clocks in
6% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
What the 1,952 jobs in Blue Earth are
1,952 jobs are based in Blue Earth. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Blue Earth’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blue Earth, 2013 → 2023: 2,114 → 1,952. 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.
Half of Blue Earth commutes less than 2 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 19% 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.
Blue Earth is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Blue Earth is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #36 of 273 in Minnesota. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 12.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Minnesota, on an EPA index of 8.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,486 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). 7.4% of Blue Earth households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Blue Earth’s commuters take a bus or train.
Blue Earth is 2,693rd of 4,698 U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,300 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Blue Earth, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Independence MN | 3,763 | $187K | 1.1% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Deephaven MN | 3,794 | $198K | 1.7% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 16 | Greenfield MN | 2,962 | $154K | 1.2% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,691 | Coarsegold CA | 3,967 | $81K | 6.2% | 4.9% | 10% | C+ |
| 2,692 | Pine Mountain Lake CA | 2,498 | $79K | 5.6% | 10.2% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,693 | Blue Earth MN | 3,165 | $67K | 10.8% | 2.5% | 50% | C+ |
| 2,694 | Clearwater Township MI | 2,600 | $75K | 8.4% | 3.8% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,695 | Louisville NY | 2,974 | $91K | 10.1% | 4.0% | 5% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,698 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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.
Blue Earth and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Blue Earth City Township (3%). Darker towns draw more of Blue Earth’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Blue Earth workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Earth | – | C+ | A | 13 min | $66,771 |
| Blue Earth City Township | 3% | — | — | 18 min | — |
| Jo Daviess Township | under 1% | — | — | 21 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Blue Earth City Township and Jo Daviess Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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 Blue Earth: questions
What is the median household income in Blue Earth?
$66,771 (±$10,250) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blue Earth?
10.8%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Blue Earth?
13 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blue Earth work?
50% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fairmont (6%, 18 mi), Mankato (5%, 37 mi), Blue Earth City Township (3%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Blue Earth walkable?
Blue Earth is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Blue Earth without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blue Earth, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blue Earth
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.