Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Brooklyn Center (5.8%) is higher than in 72% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 22 minutes each way, where Minnesota has 23 and the U.S. 26. Only 5% work in Brooklyn Center itself; outside it, Minneapolis draws the most (19%, 8 miles). Measured by household income, Brooklyn Center is behind 54% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Brooklyn Center apart
A lot of Brooklyn Center works one town over
29% of working residents work in a town that borders Brooklyn Center: Minneapolis (19%), Brooklyn Park (6%) and Fridley (4%). Next door ↓
Most Brooklyn Center residents work close to home
63% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. Only 4% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
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.
Why Brooklyn Center gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Job access by car holds Brooklyn Center’s grade up (ahead of 97% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brooklyn Center could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
How far Brooklyn Center goes to work
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.
A workday in Brooklyn Center: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 14,408 residents head out to work, 805 work right here, and 11,790 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.83 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.
The towns that employ Brooklyn Center’s residents
Where Brooklyn Center clocks in
19% of workers
7% of workers
6% 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 kinds of work in Brooklyn Center
12,595 jobs are based in Brooklyn Center.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brooklyn Center, 2013 → 2023: 11,590 → 12,595. 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 Brooklyn Center’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Brooklyn Center takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brooklyn Center workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,303 commuters (the 13% 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.
Brooklyn Center is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.8% 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 15,300 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 57% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 12.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 95% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 9.0% of Brooklyn Center households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Brooklyn Center’s commuters take a bus or train.
Brooklyn Center is 882nd of 1,368 U.S. towns of 22,000 to 43,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Prior Lake MN | 28,140 | $134K | 3.1% | 1.5% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Otsego MN | 24,525 | $120K | 3.5% | 1.7% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 54 | Andover MN | 33,874 | $138K | 3.3% | 2.8% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 880 | Arlington WA | 22,031 | $88K | 12.7% | 4.2% | 14% | B− |
| 881 | Hazel Dell WA | 23,237 | $86K | 9.8% | 8.2% | 5% | B− |
| 882 | Brooklyn Center MN | 31,846 | $73K | 12.3% | 5.8% | 5% | B− |
| 883 | Golden Gate FL | 29,234 | $68K | 15.1% | 2.8% | 5% | B− |
| 884 | McDonough GA | 33,395 | $75K | 10.6% | 5.5% | 7% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,368 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Brooklyn Center, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Bordering towns draw 29% of Brooklyn Center’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Brooklyn Center workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn Center | – | B− | A | 22 min | $72,535 |
| Brooklyn Park | 6% | A− | A− | 21 min | $89,891 |
| Crystal | under 3% | A | A | 21 min | $92,513 |
| Fridley | 4% | B− | A | 23 min | $77,680 |
| Robbinsdale | under 3% | B | A | 20 min | $88,252 |
| Minneapolis | 19% | B− | A+ | 22 min | $80,846 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Minneapolis. Darker towns draw more of Brooklyn Center’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 Brooklyn Center: questions
What is the median household income in Brooklyn Center?
$72,535 (±$3,707) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brooklyn Center?
12.3%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brooklyn Center?
22 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brooklyn Center work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Minneapolis (19%, 8 mi), St. Paul (7%, 13 mi), Brooklyn Park (6%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brooklyn Center walkable?
Brooklyn Center is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brooklyn Center without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 57% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brooklyn Center, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brooklyn Center
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.