Allemarinda and James Wyer House · Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 4.0Excelsior has some of the lowest unemployment in the country, with hardly anyone out of work
Only 6% work in Excelsior; the top destination outside it is Minneapolis (16%, 15 miles). Excelsior grades A for jobs and income and B for walkability. Household incomes here are higher than in 79% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Excelsior and work: the main findings
Excelsior is where the jobs are
Excelsior has 1,685 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Excelsior workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 28 minutes each way, against 23 across Minnesota. Over a year that’s about 215 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
The biggest group of Excelsior’s workers comes from Minneapolis
147 of the people who work in Excelsior live in Minneapolis, 15 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
33% of the jobs based in Excelsior are held by workers 29 or younger, against 22% of Excelsior’s own working residents. The jobs ↓
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.
How Excelsior earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Excelsior is better than 92% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Excelsior’s grade up (hardly any, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (10.0%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Excelsior could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Excelsior on a workday afternoon
On a workday 965 residents head out to work, 60 work right here, and 1,625 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,000 people are in Excelsior on a workday afternoon, 28% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The trip to work from Excelsior: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Excelsior workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,218 commuters (the 23% 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.
The towns that send workers to Excelsior
Where Excelsior clocks in
16% of workers
9% 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.
The 1,685 jobs based in Excelsior
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Excelsior, 2013 → 2023: 1,917 → 1,685. 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 Excelsior’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Excelsior commutes
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.
The commute in Excelsior is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Excelsior is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 5.7% across Minnesota.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,585 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 96% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 47% 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). 4.2% of Excelsior households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Excelsior’s commuters take a bus or train.
Excelsior places 294th of 5,328 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Greenfield MN | 2,962 | $154K | 1.2% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Empire MN | 3,063 | $148K | 1.9% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | May Township MN | 2,638 | $137K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 292 | Bowling Green Township OH | 1,863 | $112K | 1.9% | 5.1% | <1% | A |
| 293 | Lusby MD | 2,595 | $152K | 2.1% | 0.7% | 2% | A |
| 294 | Excelsior MN | 2,316 | $103K | 10.0% | 0.0% | 6% | A |
| 295 | Ravensworth VA | 2,475 | $166K | 0.6% | 5.9% | 2% | A |
| 296 | Fairfax IA | 2,925 | $114K | 6.2% | 1.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Excelsior, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Around Excelsior: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Excelsior’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 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 Excelsior: questions
What is the median household income in Excelsior?
$103,068 (±$32,825) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Excelsior?
10.0%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Excelsior?
28 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Excelsior work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Minneapolis (16%, 15 mi), Minnetonka (9%, 6 mi), Eden Prairie (8%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Excelsior walkable?
Excelsior is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 16.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Excelsior without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 96% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Excelsior, from the people who make the trip.
More of Excelsior
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.