Photo: ShakataGaNai · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Ely are lower than in 94% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Ely are C− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. 13.9% of residents live below the poverty line, against 9.3% across Minnesota. Working from home is the commute for 6% of workers (Minnesota 18%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Ely
The figures behind Ely’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ely is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #251 of 273 in Minnesota. Unemployment holds Ely’s grade up (2.5%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ely could be anywhere from D to C+.
About 14 minutes each way, quicker than most of Minnesota
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ely workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,504 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.
A workday in Ely: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 627 residents head out to work, 516 work right here, and 781 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 (1.13 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.
7% of working residents work in Morse Township
Where Ely clocks in
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 Ely: what the 1,297 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ely, 2013 → 2023: 1,471 → 1,297. 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 Ely’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Ely to work
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.
In Ely, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ely is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns, #10 of 273 in Minnesota. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 25.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Minnesota, on an EPA index of 10.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,605 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 14.9% of Ely households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Ely’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ely is 3,488th of 4,453 U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,400 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Independence MN | 3,763 | $187K | 1.1% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Deephaven MN | 3,794 | $198K | 1.7% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 17 | Greenfield MN | 2,962 | $154K | 1.2% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,486 | Dayton WA | 2,538 | $71K | 11.9% | 5.1% | 38% | C− |
| 3,487 | Fremont Township MI | 3,126 | $63K | 11.1% | 5.8% | 7% | C− |
| 3,488 | Ely MN | 3,231 | $44K | 13.9% | 2.5% | 45% | C− |
| 3,489 | Broken Bow NE | 3,507 | $60K | 8.8% | 5.9% | 61% | C− |
| 3,490 | Four Oaks NC | 2,978 | $73K | 15.3% | 8.3% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,453 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Ely, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
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 Ely: questions
What is the median household income in Ely?
$43,901 (±$8,045) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ely?
13.9%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ely?
14 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ely work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Morse Township (7%, 7 mi), Virginia (6%, 40 mi), Tower (6%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ely walkable?
Ely is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 10.0 out of 20, and 25% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ely without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ely, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ely
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.