Elbow Lake has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.0 for each
Elbow Lake has 1 jobs, and 26 of its residents work somewhere. Hardly any work in Elbow Lake itself; outside it, Detroit Lakes draws the most (31%, 27 miles). Working from home is the commute for 0% of workers, against 18% across Minnesota.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
A workday in Elbow Lake: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 26 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 1 people come in from elsewhere.
About 51 people are in Elbow Lake on a workday afternoon, 33% 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.
Where people from Elbow Lake work
Where Elbow Lake clocks in
31% of workers
15% of workers
8% 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 Elbow Lake: what the 1 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elbow Lake, 2013 → 2023: 3 → 1. 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 Elbow Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Elbow Lake, about 31 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elbow Lake workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16 commuters (the 0% 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.
Half of Elbow Lake commutes less than 26 miles
About 27% 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 Elbow Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Elbow Lake?
$29,583 (±$14,854) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elbow Lake?
43.4%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elbow Lake?
31 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elbow Lake work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Detroit Lakes (31%, 27 mi), Mahnomen (15%, 23 mi), Callaway (8%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Elbow Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 21% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Elbow Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elbow Lake
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.