Kimball Prairie Village Hall · Photo: AlexiusHoratius · CC BY-SA 3.0Kimball at work: jobs, income and the commute
Only 7% work in Kimball itself; outside it, St. Cloud draws the most (23%, 16 miles). Home is the office for 4% of workers; Minnesota has 18%. A typical one-way commute lasts 28 minutes, where Minnesota has 23 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Kimball apart on work
Few Kimball workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 18% across Minnesota. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
43% of the jobs in Kimball are in trade, transport and utilities, against 24% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Kimball 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 ↓
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 397 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The trip to work from Kimball: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kimball workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 366 commuters (the 4% 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 385 jobs based in Kimball
385 jobs are based in Kimball.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kimball, 2013 → 2023: 284 → 385. 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 Kimball’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Kimball: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 371 residents head out to work, 26 work right here, and 359 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 (0.97 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 places Kimball commutes to
Where Kimball clocks in
23% of workers
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.
The distance from Kimball to work
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.
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 Kimball: questions
What is the median household income in Kimball?
$66,146 (±$13,053) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kimball?
11.3%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kimball?
28 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kimball work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Cloud (23%, 16 mi), Cold Spring (5%, 12 mi), Maine Prairie Township (5%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Kimball without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kimball, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kimball
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.