Alexandria draws about half of Carlos’ working residents
Home is the office for 3% of workers, where Minnesota as a whole has 18%. Only 2% work in Carlos itself; outside it, Alexandria draws the most (49%, 8 miles). The trip to work takes 20 minutes on average; Minnesota averages 23, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Carlos apart
Carlos makes and builds things
90% of the jobs based in Carlos are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Carlos residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 26%. The jobs ↓
Nearly half of Carlos works in Alexandria
128 working residents, 49%, have their main job in Alexandria, 7.8 miles away. That’s 25 times as many as work in Carlos itself. The commute map ↓
The jobs in Carlos pay better than its residents’ jobs
83% of the jobs based in Carlos pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 57% of the jobs Carlos residents hold. 99% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Carlos. The jobs ↓
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; with 263 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Goods jobs make up 90% of work in Carlos
317 jobs are based in Carlos.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carlos, 2013 → 2023: 261 → 317. 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 Carlos’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Carlos goes to work
Where Carlos clocks in
49% 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.
In and out of Carlos on a workday
On a workday 259 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 313 people come in from elsewhere.
About 540 people are in Carlos on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.21 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.
How long Carlos spends getting to work: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carlos workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 292 commuters (the 3% 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.
The commute from Carlos, by distance
About 26% 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.
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 Carlos: questions
What is the median household income in Carlos?
$69,792 (±$21,408) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carlos?
6.8%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carlos?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carlos work?
2% work in town.
Can you get around Carlos without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carlos, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carlos
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.