Photo: Myotus · CC BY-SA 4.0Making a living in Fertile
Working residents average 24 minutes each way; Minnesota averages 23, the U.S. 26. For 10% of workers, the job is at home (Minnesota 18%). About one in five work in Fertile itself; outside it, Crookston draws the most (21%, 23 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Fertile, in a few figures
Fertile’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Fertile is Crookston, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 21% of working residents (90) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Many jobs in Fertile pay little
32% of the jobs based in Fertile pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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; with 425 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Miles to work from Fertile
About 22% 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.
Inside Fertile’s 428 jobs
428 jobs are based in Fertile.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fertile, 2013 → 2023: 429 → 428. 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 Fertile’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Fertile
On a workday 340 residents head out to work, 85 work right here, and 343 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 (1.01 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.
The towns that employ Fertile’s residents
Where Fertile clocks in
21% 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.
Commuting from Fertile: about 24 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fertile workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 337 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.
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 Fertile: questions
What is the median household income in Fertile?
$67,125 (±$9,178) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fertile?
8.7%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fertile?
24 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fertile work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Crookston (21%, 23 mi), Thief River Falls (6%, 40 mi), Fargo (6%, 53 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Fertile without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fertile, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fertile
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.