Photo: WikiMRV/M.R. Voigt · CC BY-SA 3.0Clearwater has lower unemployment (2.1%) than 83% of U.S. towns
Only 5% work in Clearwater; the top destination outside it is St. Cloud (11%, 10 miles). Jobs and income earn Clearwater A−; getting around on foot earns it B+. 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
Where Clearwater stands out on work
Clearwater trades workers with the towns around it
Clearwater has about as many jobs (953) as working residents (1,097), but they are mostly different people: 1,037 residents leave for work each day while 893 people come in. Only 6% of the jobs in Clearwater are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Clearwater workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 23 across Minnesota. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Clearwater
69% of Clearwater residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 51% of the jobs based in Clearwater pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 95% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
33% of the jobs based in Clearwater are held by workers 29 or younger, against 24% of Clearwater’s own working residents. 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.
How Clearwater earns its Jobs & income grade
Unemployment is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 65% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Clearwater could be anywhere from B to A+.
Who commutes out of Clearwater, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,037 residents head out to work, 60 work right here, and 893 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 (0.87 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.
About 31 minutes each way, longer than most of Minnesota
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clearwater workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,091 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.
What Clearwater’s employers do
953 jobs are based in Clearwater.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clearwater, 2013 → 2023: 869 → 953. 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 Clearwater’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Out of Clearwater to work: where people go
Where Clearwater clocks in
11% of workers
8% 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.
Half of Clearwater commutes less than 20 miles
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.
In Clearwater, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clearwater is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Clearwater 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 1,164 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). 2.3% of Clearwater households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Clearwater’s commuters take a bus or train.
599th of 5,102: where Clearwater ranks among U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Greenfield MN | 2,962 | $154K | 1.2% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | May Township MN | 2,638 | $137K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Stillwater Township MN | 1,831 | $162K | 3.4% | 3.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 597 | Clinton Township PA | 2,824 | $85K | 5.3% | 1.9% | 9% | A− |
| 598 | Pendergrass GA | 1,919 | $90K | 4.2% | 3.3% | 1% | A− |
| 599 | Clearwater MN | 2,225 | $91K | 6.5% | 2.1% | 5% | A− |
| 600 | Seabrook Island SC | 2,171 | $128K | 4.4% | 0.0% | 10% | A− |
| 601 | Union Township IN | 2,131 | $86K | 6.0% | 0.8% | <1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,102 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Clearwater, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Clearwater and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Clearwater workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clearwater | – | A− | B+ | 31 min | $91,346 |
| Clearwater Township | under 2% | A | D | 31 min | $113,750 |
| Lynden Township | under 2% | B+ | D− | 30 min | $112,083 |
| Clear Lake Township | under 2% | A− | C− | 32 min | $90,938 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Clearwater’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 Clearwater: questions
What is the median household income in Clearwater?
$91,346 (±$20,573) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clearwater?
6.5%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clearwater?
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 Clearwater work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Cloud (11%, 10 mi), Monticello (8%, 15 mi), Minneapolis (6%, 49 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clearwater walkable?
Clearwater is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clearwater without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clearwater, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clearwater
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.