Williamson-Russell-Rahilly House · Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer people are out of work in Lake City (0.6%) than in 97% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 10% of workers, where Minnesota as a whole has 18%. Lake City grades B+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in three work in Lake City; the top destination outside it is Rochester (16%, 31 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Lake City, in brief
Lake City’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lake City is Rochester, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (385) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Lake City makes and builds things
47% of the jobs based in Lake City are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Lake City residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 28%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Lake City
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lake City is better than 67% of U.S. towns, #159 of 273 in Minnesota. Unemployment holds Lake City’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 27% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lake City could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Near or far: the trip to work from Lake City
About 17% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
47% of the jobs in Lake City make or build things
2,495 jobs are based in Lake City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake City, 2014 → 2024: 2,883 → 2,495. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lake City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Lake City, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,494 residents head out to work, 861 work right here, and 1,634 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 (1.06 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Lake City: the destinations
Where Lake City clocks in
16% 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.
The daily trip from Lake City: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake City workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,226 commuters (the 11% 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.
Lake City is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lake City is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #60 of 273 in Minnesota. Both inputs place Lake City 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 2,488 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 33% 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 0.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 51% 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). 6.5% of Lake City households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lake City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lake City next to U.S. towns of 3,700 to 7,200: 1,359th of 3,651 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Independence MN | 3,763 | $187K | 1.1% | 0.8% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Deephaven MN | 3,794 | $198K | 1.7% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 19 | Elko New Market MN | 5,300 | $152K | 1.1% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,357 | Wonder Lake IL | 5,593 | $95K | 2.9% | 7.2% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,358 | Chelsea MI | 5,424 | $72K | 4.1% | 4.9% | 17% | B+ |
| 1,359 | Lake City MN | 5,306 | $72K | 5.9% | 0.6% | 37% | B+ |
| 1,360 | West View PA | 6,355 | $84K | 8.8% | 5.1% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,361 | Ashford CT | 4,265 | $122K | 5.4% | 7.3% | 9% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,651 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Lake City, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Work in the towns next to Lake City
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake City workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake City | – | B+ | A− | 20 min | $72,244 |
| Florence Township | under 1% | A− | C | 23 min | $109,432 |
| Lake Township | under 1% | — | — | 21 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Lake Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lake City’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 2024, 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 Lake City: questions
What is the median household income in Lake City?
$72,244 (±$10,106) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake City?
5.9%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake City?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake City work?
37% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rochester (16%, 31 mi), Red Wing (11%, 18 mi), Wabasha (4%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Lake City walkable?
Lake City is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.3 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake City without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake City
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.