Photo: Elkman · CC BY-SA 3.0Brainerd has higher unemployment (9.0%) than 92% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Brainerd is behind 80% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Brainerd D; getting around on foot earns it A−. 8% of workers work from home, against 18% across Minnesota.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Brainerd
Brainerd is where the jobs are
Brainerd has 9,688 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Brainerd and Baxter trade workers both ways
Baxter is the top workplace for Brainerd residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Brainerd come from (11% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Brainerd draws workers from far and wide
The 9,688 jobs in Brainerd are filled from a wide area. Brainerd’s own residents hold 19% and the ten next-biggest home towns 26%; the other 55% 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.
The four measures behind Brainerd’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brainerd is better than 14% of U.S. towns, #261 of 273 in Minnesota. Job access by car holds Brainerd’s grade up (ahead of 40% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brainerd could be anywhere from D to C.
How a workday changes Brainerd
On a workday 4,399 residents head out to work, 1,815 work right here, and 7,873 people come in from elsewhere.
About 18,000 people are in Brainerd on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
1.6 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.
Commuting in to Brainerd: where workers come from
Where Brainerd clocks in
3% 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.
The 9,688 jobs based in Brainerd
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brainerd, 2013 → 2023: 8,739 → 9,688. 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 Brainerd’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Brainerd, about 20 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brainerd workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,195 commuters (the 8% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Brainerd
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.
In Brainerd, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brainerd is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #97 of 273 in Minnesota. Both inputs place Brainerd near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,700 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). 12.6% of Brainerd households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Brainerd’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Brainerd sits among U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 4 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Mendota Heights MN | 11,475 | $133K | 2.8% | 1.4% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Victoria MN | 12,447 | $196K | 2.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,062 | Bristol VA | 16,418 | $50K | 18.0% | 6.3% | 27% | D |
| 2,063 | Rochester Township IN | 10,001 | $60K | 15.4% | 7.3% | 32% | D |
| 2,064 | Brainerd MN | 14,428 | $56K | 15.0% | 9.0% | 29% | D |
| 2,065 | Meadville PA | 12,230 | $43K | 22.3% | 5.7% | 32% | D |
| 2,066 | Potsdam NY | 14,367 | $53K | 20.4% | 4.5% | 37% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Brainerd, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
19% of Brainerd works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Baxter (17%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Brainerd workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brainerd | – | D | A− | 20 min | $56,111 |
| Oak Lawn Township | under 2% | C+ | C | 21 min | $85,417 |
| Baxter | 17% | B− | B | 19 min | $70,688 |
| Crow Wing Township | 2% | A− | C− | 23 min | $99,861 |
| Long Lake Township | under 2% | B− | C− | 26 min | $85,385 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Brainerd’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 Brainerd: questions
What is the median household income in Brainerd?
$56,111 (±$6,610) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brainerd?
15.0%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brainerd?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brainerd work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Baxter (17%, 4 mi), Nisswa (3%, 11 mi), St. Cloud (2%, 57 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brainerd walkable?
Brainerd is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brainerd without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brainerd, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brainerd
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.