Making a living in Hayfield
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 0.6 in Rochester. For jobs and income Hayfield is better than 28% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (A). 8% of workers work from 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
The short version on getting to work from Hayfield
36% of Hayfield works in Rochester
252 working residents, 36%, have their main job in Rochester, 20 miles away. That’s 3 times as many as work in Hayfield itself. The commute map ↓
Hayfield makes and builds things
41% of the jobs based in Hayfield are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Hayfield residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 24%. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Hayfield
68% of Hayfield residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 49% of the jobs based in Hayfield pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 87% leave town for their job. 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 700 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Hayfield: the grade in detail
Household income holds Hayfield’s grade up ($69,313, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.9%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (2.6%) is left out: Hayfield’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, Hayfield could be anywhere from C− to C+.
36% of working residents work in Rochester
Where Hayfield clocks in
36% of workers
4% 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.
Goods jobs make up 41% of work in Hayfield
580 jobs are based in Hayfield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hayfield, 2013 → 2023: 431 → 580. 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 Hayfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Hayfield, and who commutes in
On a workday 612 residents head out to work, 88 work right here, and 492 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 (0.83 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.
About 26 minutes to work from Hayfield
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hayfield workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 614 commuters (the 8% 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.
Half of Hayfield commutes less than 21 miles
About 15% 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.
Hayfield is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.8% of 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 666 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 98% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 52% 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). 12.5% of Hayfield households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Hayfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Hayfield is 3,206th of 5,400 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Medicine Lake MN | 1,342 | $184K | 2.7% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Dellwood MN | 1,148 | $225K | 4.1% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Louisville Township MN | 1,361 | $143K | 1.1% | 0.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,204 | Ladoga IN | 1,103 | $62K | 11.2% | 0.8% | 3% | C |
| 3,205 | Concord MI | 1,083 | $61K | 13.5% | 3.4% | 3% | C |
| 3,206 | Hayfield MN | 1,358 | $69K | 15.9% | 2.6% | 13% | C |
| 3,207 | Geneva Township MI | 1,067 | $62K | 10.1% | 9.5% | 1% | C |
| 3,208 | Shingobee Township MN | 1,725 | $75K | 10.6% | 7.0% | 17% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Hayfield, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
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 Hayfield: questions
What is the median household income in Hayfield?
$69,313 (±$10,967) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hayfield?
15.9%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hayfield?
26 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hayfield work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rochester (36%, 20 mi), Dodge Center (4%, 10 mi), Owatonna (4%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hayfield walkable?
Hayfield is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.9 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hayfield without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hayfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hayfield
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.