With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Erie Township works elsewhere
Only 2% work in Erie Township; the top destination outside it is Detroit Lakes (44%, 6 miles). Erie Township has 274 jobs, against 734 working residents. For jobs and income Erie Township is better than 42% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (C).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Erie Township apart on work
How Erie Township earns its Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Erie Township’s grade up (6.7%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 15% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (2.5%) is left out: Erie Township’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Erie Township could be anywhere from C to B.
Commuting out of Erie Township: the destinations
Where Erie Township clocks in
44% of workers
6% 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.
Erie Township by day and by night
On a workday 718 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 258 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Erie Township on a workday afternoon, 26% 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 2024, primary jobs.
In Erie Township, 66% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Erie Township, 2014 → 2024: 174 → 274. 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 Erie Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Erie Township’s commute takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Erie Township workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 724 commuters (the 10% 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.
How many miles Erie Township commutes
About 23% 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.
Erie Township is a driving town
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Minnesota, on an EPA index of 5.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 806 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). 2.1% of Erie Township households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Erie Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Erie Township places 2,656th of 5,760 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Medicine Lake MN | 1,342 | $184K | 2.7% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Louisville Township MN | 1,361 | $143K | 1.1% | 0.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Tonka Bay MN | 1,561 | $156K | 3.5% | 9.7% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,654 | Jackson Township IN | 1,397 | $62K | 7.1% | 1.3% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,655 | Colrain MA | 1,654 | $81K | 7.2% | 4.1% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,656 | Erie Township MN | 1,737 | $74K | 6.7% | 2.5% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,657 | Homer Township OH | 1,639 | $76K | 15.8% | 1.6% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,658 | Keaau HI | 1,436 | $85K | 11.5% | 2.2% | 9% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Erie Township, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
The towns around Erie Township
The biggest share goes to Detroit Township (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Erie Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erie Township | – | C+ | C | 20 min | $74,286 |
| Detroit Township | 1% | B | C | 18 min | $93,587 |
| Height of Land Township | under 2% | — | — | 30 min | — |
| Holmesville Township | under 2% | — | — | 33 min | — |
| Burlington Township | 1% | B+ | C− | 22 min | $105,789 |
Same-state neighbors only. Height of Land Township and Holmesville Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Erie Township’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 Erie Township: questions
What is the median household income in Erie Township?
$74,286 (±$11,778) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Erie Township?
6.7%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Erie Township?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Erie Township work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Detroit Lakes (44%, 6 mi), Perham (6%, 20 mi), Frazee (6%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Erie Township walkable?
Erie Township is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Erie Township without a car?
1% 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 Erie Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Erie Township
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.