Photo: Myotus · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Cosmos commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
Cosmos has 69 jobs; 257 of its residents have a job. Only 2% work in Cosmos itself; outside it, Willmar draws the most (14%, 22 miles). For 3% of workers, the job is at home, next to 18% for Minnesota as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Cosmos: the gist
Cosmos is a place people come home to
There are 69 jobs based in Cosmos, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Cosmos has about 310 people in it, 38% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Few Cosmos workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 18% across Minnesota. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 257 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Cosmos on a workday afternoon
On a workday 252 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 64 people come in from elsewhere.
About 310 people are in Cosmos on a workday afternoon, 38% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Getting to work from Cosmos takes about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cosmos workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 320 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.
Where Cosmos’ working residents head each day
Where Cosmos clocks in
14% 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.
Jobs in Cosmos: what the 69 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cosmos, 2013 → 2023: 107 → 69. 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 Cosmos’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Cosmos
About 24% 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 Cosmos: questions
What is the median household income in Cosmos?
$56,635 (±$13,169) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cosmos?
15.3%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cosmos?
26 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cosmos work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Willmar (14%, 22 mi), Litchfield (13%, 15 mi), Hutchinson (6%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Cosmos without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cosmos, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cosmos
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.