Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5Households in Granite Falls have lower incomes than those in 75% of U.S. towns
Granite Falls grades C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. The poverty rate is 7.7%, next to 9.3% for Minnesota as a whole. Home is the office for 3% of workers; Minnesota has 18%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Granite Falls: the gist
Few Granite Falls workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 18% across Minnesota. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Granite Falls are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 23 across Minnesota. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Minnesota worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
Granite Falls’ Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Granite Falls is better than 32% of U.S. towns, #232 of 273 in Minnesota. The poverty rate holds Granite Falls’ grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 20% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Granite Falls could be anywhere from C− to B.
About 17 minutes each way, quicker than most of Minnesota
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Granite Falls workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,193 commuters (the 3% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Granite Falls
On a workday 883 residents head out to work, 366 work right here, and 1,219 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,000 people are in Granite Falls on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.27 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.
12% of working residents work in Montevideo
Where Granite Falls clocks in
5% 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.
What Granite Falls’ employers do
1,585 jobs are based in Granite Falls.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Granite Falls, 2013 → 2023: 1,754 → 1,585. 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 Granite Falls’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Granite Falls
About 20% 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.
Granite Falls is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Granite Falls is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #87 of 273 in Minnesota. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Minnesota, on an EPA index of 7.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,233 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). 6.8% of Granite Falls households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Granite Falls’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Granite Falls ranks: 3,134th of 4,797 U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Greenfield MN | 2,962 | $154K | 1.2% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Empire MN | 3,063 | $148K | 1.9% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | May Township MN | 2,638 | $137K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,132 | Snyder Township PA | 3,320 | $71K | 7.8% | 10.5% | 16% | C |
| 3,133 | Olivia MN | 2,288 | $63K | 13.3% | 3.1% | 30% | C |
| 3,134 | Granite Falls MN | 2,691 | $59K | 7.7% | 4.7% | 29% | C |
| 3,135 | Fort Edward NY | 3,128 | $72K | 13.6% | 5.8% | 5% | C |
| 3,136 | Adams Township MI | 2,330 | $58K | 7.4% | 4.7% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,797 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Granite Falls, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
How Granite Falls compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Minnesota Falls Township (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Granite Falls workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Granite Falls | – | C | A− | 17 min | $59,375 |
| Granite Falls Township | under 2% | — | — | 12 min | — |
| Minnesota Falls Township | 8% | — | — | 13 min | — |
| Stony Run Township | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Granite Falls Township, Minnesota Falls Township and Stony Run Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Granite Falls’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 Granite Falls: questions
What is the median household income in Granite Falls?
$59,375 (±$4,959) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Granite Falls?
7.7%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Granite Falls?
17 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Granite Falls work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Montevideo (12%, 13 mi), Minnesota Falls Township (8%, 4 mi), Marshall (5%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Granite Falls walkable?
Granite Falls is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Granite Falls without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Granite Falls, from the people who make the trip.
More of Granite Falls
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.