Photo: Myotus · CC BY 4.0Unemployment in Lester Prairie (0.8%) is lower than in 96% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 9% of workers (Minnesota 18%). For jobs and income Lester Prairie is better than 87% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (A−). Only 4% stay in Lester Prairie for work; outside it, Glencoe is the main destination (14%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Lester Prairie in brief
Lester Prairie makes and builds things
57% of the jobs based in Lester Prairie are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Lester Prairie residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 32%. The jobs ↓
Lester Prairie workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 30 minutes each way, against 23 across Minnesota. Over a year that’s about 230 hours of commuting, 54 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 912 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Lester Prairie
Unemployment holds Lester Prairie’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 41% 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, Lester Prairie could be anywhere from A− to A.
Lester Prairie makes things: 57% of its jobs are in goods
441 jobs are based in Lester Prairie.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lester Prairie, 2014 → 2024: 421 → 441. 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 Lester Prairie’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Lester Prairie, about 30 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lester Prairie workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 972 commuters (the 9% 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 many people are in Lester Prairie by day
On a workday 877 residents head out to work, 35 work right here, and 406 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Lester Prairie on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
0.48 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 2024, primary jobs.
The places Lester Prairie commutes to
Where Lester Prairie clocks in
14% of workers
7% 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 commute from Lester Prairie, by distance
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Lester Prairie
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Minnesota, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,063 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). 0.4% of Lester Prairie households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lester Prairie’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Lester Prairie ranks: 438th of 5,656 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Medicine Lake MN | 1,342 | $184K | 2.7% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Louisville Township MN | 1,361 | $143K | 1.1% | 0.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Tonka Bay MN | 1,561 | $156K | 3.5% | 9.7% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 436 | Parkside PA | 2,320 | $94K | 7.7% | 2.7% | 3% | A |
| 437 | Frankenmuth Township MI | 1,872 | $102K | 5.5% | 1.5% | 1% | A |
| 438 | Lester Prairie MN | 1,881 | $97K | 3.0% | 0.8% | 4% | A |
| 439 | Brookside Village TX | 1,600 | $111K | 10.4% | 5.9% | 2% | A |
| 440 | Danvers Township IL | 1,842 | $98K | 2.9% | 2.9% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Lester Prairie, 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 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 Lester Prairie: questions
What is the median household income in Lester Prairie?
$96,544 (±$12,848) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lester Prairie?
3.0%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lester Prairie?
30 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lester Prairie work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Glencoe (14%, 10 mi), Waconia (8%, 12 mi), Hutchinson (7%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Lester Prairie walkable?
Lester Prairie is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lester Prairie without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and <1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lester Prairie, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lester Prairie
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.