Photo: Blanderson1869 · CC BY-SA 4.0At 1.5%, unemployment in Lake Crystal is lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Lake Crystal are B+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Home is the office for 5% of workers (Minnesota 18%). About one in seven stay in Lake Crystal for work; outside it, Mankato is the main destination (31%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Lake Crystal apart
Inside Lake Crystal’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lake Crystal is better than 71% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Lake Crystal’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 44% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lake Crystal could be anywhere from B to A.
Where Lake Crystal’s working residents head each day
Where Lake Crystal clocks in
31% 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.
In and out of Lake Crystal on a workday
On a workday 1,160 residents head out to work, 169 work right here, and 499 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Lake Crystal on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
0.50 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Inside Lake Crystal’s 668 jobs
668 jobs are based in Lake Crystal.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Crystal, 2013 → 2023: 644 → 668. 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 Lake Crystal’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 25 minutes to work from Lake Crystal
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Crystal workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,281 commuters (the 5% 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.
How far Lake Crystal goes to work
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most trips from Lake Crystal start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lake Crystal is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Lake Crystal 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 1,346 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). 3.7% of Lake Crystal households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lake Crystal’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300, Lake Crystal ranks 1,195th of 5,207 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Greenfield MN | 2,962 | $154K | 1.2% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Empire MN | 3,063 | $148K | 1.9% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | May Township MN | 2,638 | $137K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,193 | Grand Point LA | 2,341 | $89K | 5.1% | 4.6% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,194 | Diamond IL | 2,714 | $73K | 10.5% | 0.4% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,195 | Lake Crystal MN | 2,470 | $83K | 7.8% | 1.5% | 13% | B+ |
| 1,196 | Bingham Township MI | 2,660 | $94K | 2.2% | 3.5% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,197 | Cambridge Township MN | 2,592 | $108K | 10.4% | 2.4% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Crystal, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Lake Crystal and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Judson Township (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake Crystal workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Crystal | – | B+ | B+ | 25 min | $83,317 |
| Judson Township | 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Garden City Township | 2% | — | — | 21 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Judson Township and Garden City Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lake Crystal’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 Lake Crystal: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Crystal?
$83,317 (±$8,435) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Crystal?
7.8%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Crystal?
25 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake Crystal work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mankato (31%, 13 mi), North Mankato (11%, 10 mi), South Bend Township (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lake Crystal walkable?
Lake Crystal is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Crystal without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Crystal, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake Crystal
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.