Photo: Jon Platek · CC BY-SA 3.0Faribault has lower household incomes than 72% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 16.4% of residents, next to 9.3% for Minnesota as a whole. Jobs and income earn Faribault C; getting around on foot earns it A−. For 6% 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
Work in Faribault: the figures worth knowing
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Faribault
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Faribault is better than 31% of U.S. towns, #234 of 273 in Minnesota. Job access by car holds Faribault’s grade up (ahead of 63% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Faribault could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Who commutes out of Faribault, and who commutes in
On a workday 6,493 residents head out to work, 4,189 work right here, and 6,677 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 (1.02 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 Northfield
Where Faribault clocks in
6% of workers
3% 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.
In Faribault, 28% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
10,866 jobs are based in Faribault.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Faribault, 2013 → 2023: 10,043 → 10,866. 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 Faribault’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 19 minutes to work from Faribault
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Faribault workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,314 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.
Faribault’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Faribault is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Faribault is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #109 of 273 in Minnesota. Both inputs place Faribault near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 10,956 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). 10.4% of Faribault households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Faribault’s commuters take a bus or train.
Faribault is 1,262nd of 1,516 U.S. towns of 18,000 to 34,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Prior Lake MN | 28,140 | $134K | 3.1% | 1.5% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Otsego MN | 24,525 | $120K | 3.5% | 1.7% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Andover MN | 33,874 | $138K | 3.3% | 2.8% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,260 | Englewood FL | 20,091 | $69K | 8.5% | 6.0% | 14% | C |
| 1,261 | Muscatine IA | 23,164 | $58K | 19.1% | 4.3% | 51% | C |
| 1,262 | Faribault MN | 25,040 | $61K | 16.4% | 5.4% | 39% | C |
| 1,263 | Los Lunas NM | 20,572 | $62K | 18.2% | 4.9% | 17% | C |
| 1,264 | Shafter CA | 23,871 | $71K | 20.7% | 5.8% | 17% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,516 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Faribault, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Faribault and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Faribault workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faribault | – | C | A− | 19 min | $61,449 |
| Wells Township | under 2% | B+ | C | 25 min | $87,574 |
| Walcott Township | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Cannon City Township | under 2% | A− | C− | 26 min | $101,667 |
| Warsaw Township | under 2% | B+ | C− | 26 min | $91,111 |
Same-state neighbors only. Walcott Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Faribault’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 Faribault: questions
What is the median household income in Faribault?
$61,449 (±$3,728) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Faribault?
16.4%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Faribault?
19 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Faribault work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Northfield (7%, 12 mi), Owatonna (6%, 14 mi), Minneapolis (3%, 46 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Faribault walkable?
Faribault is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Faribault without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Faribault, from the people who make the trip.
More of Faribault
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.