Northeastern Hotel · Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Cloquet are lower than in 72% of U.S. towns
9% of workers work from home, against 18% across Minnesota. 15.9% of residents live below the poverty line, where Minnesota as a whole has 9.3%. The two grades for Cloquet are C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Cloquet: the figures worth knowing
Cloquet and Duluth trade workers both ways
Duluth is the top workplace for Cloquet residents (22%) and also where the most people who work in Cloquet come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Cloquet are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 23 across Minnesota. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Minnesota worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
The figures behind Cloquet’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cloquet is better than 36% of U.S. towns, #226 of 273 in Minnesota. Job access by car holds Cloquet’s grade up (ahead of 55% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cloquet could be anywhere from C− to B−.
22% of working residents work in Duluth
Where Cloquet clocks in
22% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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.
Time on the road from Cloquet: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cloquet workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,448 commuters (the 9% 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.
Who works in Cloquet, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 3,715 residents head out to work, 2,093 work right here, and 5,179 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Cloquet on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.25 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
65% of the jobs in Cloquet pay over $3,333 a month
7,272 jobs are based in Cloquet.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cloquet, 2014 → 2024: 7,491 → 7,272. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cloquet’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Cloquet goes to work
About 22% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Cloquet, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cloquet is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns, #128 of 273 in Minnesota. Both inputs place Cloquet 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 5,958 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). 9.2% of Cloquet households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Cloquet’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,730th of 2,354: where Cloquet ranks among U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Mendota Heights MN | 11,475 | $133K | 2.8% | 1.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Victoria MN | 12,447 | $196K | 2.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,728 | Athens TX | 13,870 | $68K | 12.7% | 4.3% | 33% | C+ |
| 1,729 | Fort Leonard Wood MO | 15,432 | $68K | 7.2% | 5.1% | 6% | C+ |
| 1,730 | Cloquet MN | 12,399 | $61K | 15.9% | 4.0% | 36% | C+ |
| 1,731 | Fallon NV | 9,570 | $73K | 12.5% | 3.5% | 30% | C+ |
| 1,732 | Struthers OH | 9,837 | $53K | 15.0% | 4.7% | 9% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Cloquet, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Work in the towns next to Cloquet
The biggest share goes to Thomson Township (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cloquet workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloquet | – | C+ | B+ | 17 min | $61,367 |
| Thomson Township | 2% | A | C+ | 19 min | $119,338 |
| Twin Lakes Township | 2% | B+ | D− | 24 min | $105,272 |
| Perch Lake Township | under 2% | B− | C | 27 min | $90,000 |
| Brevator Township | under 2% | C+ | D | 28 min | $85,313 |
| Scanlon | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Scanlon: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cloquet’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 2024, 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 Cloquet: questions
What is the median household income in Cloquet?
$61,367 (±$4,532) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cloquet?
15.9%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cloquet?
17 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cloquet work?
36% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Duluth (22%, 18 mi), Superior (3%, 20 mi), Carlton (3%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Cloquet walkable?
Cloquet is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cloquet without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cloquet, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cloquet
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.