Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Bowlus

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
Bowlus Village Hall, Bowlus, MinnesotaPhoto: Myotus · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded–Not graded
Jobs & commute in Bowlus

With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Bowlus works elsewhere

Employers in Bowlus report 19 jobs; 124 of its residents have a job. Hardly any work in Bowlus; the top destination outside it is St. Cloud (20%, 23 miles). 6% of workers work from home; Minnesota has 18%.

Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made

Day and night

Who commutes out of Bowlus, and who commutes in

On a workday 124 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 19 people come in from elsewhere.

124live here, work elsewhere
0live and work here
19work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night270
Workday160
270live here− 120head out to work+ 19come in to work= 160on a workday

About 160 people are in Bowlus on a workday afternoon, 39% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.15jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

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 commute map

The places Bowlus commutes to

Swanville: 5 residents work here (4%)BowlusBrahamAvon: 3 residents work here (2%)Royalton: 3 residents work here (2%)Long PrairieUpsala: 7 residents work here (6%)Sauk Rapids: 4 residents work here (3%)Little Falls: 11 residents work here (9%)Waite Park: 4 residents work here (3%)St. Cloud: 25 residents work here (20%)Holding TownshipSwan River TownshipSwanville TownshipTwo Rivers TownshipCrow Wing TownshipDeerwood TownshipBrockway Township: 7 residents work here (6%)Elmdale TownshipMinden Township: 3 residents work here (2%)St. CloudLittle FallsUpsalaBrockway TownshipSwanvilleSauk RapidsBowlus
1
St. Cloud23.2 mi away
20%25
2
Little Falls11.9 mi away
9%11
3
Upsala7.5 mi away
6%7
46%7
5
Swanville13 mi away
4%5
6
Sauk Rapids19.8 mi away
3%4
7
Waite Park22.1 mi away
3%4
8
Avon14.9 mi away
2%3
9
Royalton5.6 mi away
2%3
10
Minden Township21.9 mi away
2%3
Everywhere elseother towns and states
42%52
The top trips

Where Bowlus clocks in

Lines 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.

The jobs

Bowlus works in goods: 58% of its jobs

Jobs based in BowlusJobs Bowlus residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms58%33%
Trade, transport & utilities11%19%
Services: health, schools, offices32%48%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less47%12%
$1,251–$3,333 a month37%13%
Over $3,333 a month16%75%

Who does it

29 or younger37%23%
30 to 5447%53%
55 and older16%23%
−60%

Jobs based in Bowlus, 2013 → 2023: 47 → 19. 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 Bowlus’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Time on the road

The daily trip from Bowlus: about 31 minutes

A year of commuting
240 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Bowlus31 min
Minnesota23 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
6%

of Bowlus workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
How Bowlus gets to work
92%Drive alone
4%Carpool
4%Walk

Share of the 156 commuters (the 6% 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.

How far

Close to home or a long way: work trips from Bowlus

10 mi25 mi30 miSt. Cloud: 20% · 23.2 miLittle Falls: 9% · 11.9 miUpsala: 6% · 7.5 miBrockway Township: 6% · 8.3 miSwanville: 4% · 13 miSauk Rapids: 3% · 19.8 miWaite Park: 3% · 22.1 miAvon: 2% · 14.9 miRoyalton: 2% · 5.6 miMinden Township: 2% · 21.9 miSt. Cloud 20%Little Falls 9%Upsala 6%Brockway Township 6%Swanville 4%Bowlus
BowlusTop destinations (size = commuters)
19%Under 10 mi23 residents
59%10–24 mi73 residents
8%25–50 mi10 residents
15%Over 50 mi18 residents

About 15% 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.

How to read these numbers

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.

How these figures and grades are made →

Jobs and commuting in Bowlus: questions

What is the median household income in Bowlus?

$77,708 (±$19,691) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.

What is the poverty rate in Bowlus?

7.9%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).

How long is the commute from Bowlus?

31 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.

Where do people who live in Bowlus work?

0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Cloud (20%, 23 mi), Little Falls (9%, 12 mi), Upsala (6%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).

Can you get around Bowlus without a car?

0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Bowlus, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Ask neighbors
Beyond the commute

More of Bowlus

Bowlus home →

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.