Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in Little Falls have lower incomes than those in 90% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 6% of workers, next to 18% for Minnesota as a whole. 18.7% of residents live below the poverty line; Minnesota has 9.3%. Jobs and income earn Little Falls D; getting around on foot earns it B+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Little Falls, in brief
The quickest commute around
Little Falls’ 20-minute average trip is shorter than in any town next door, where it runs from 25 to 35 minutes. Next door ↓
Little Falls’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Little Falls is St. Cloud, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (283) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Little Falls’ grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Little Falls is better than 14% of U.S. towns, #263 of 273 in Minnesota. Job access by car holds Little Falls’ grade up (ahead of 41% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($47,863, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Little Falls could be anywhere from D to C+.
How far Little Falls goes to work
About 20% 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.
Little Falls on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,361 residents head out to work, 1,314 work right here, and 3,838 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Little Falls on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.40 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.
8% of working residents work in St. Cloud
Where Little Falls clocks in
8% of workers
5% of workers
2% 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.
Inside Little Falls’ 5,152 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Little Falls, 2013 → 2023: 5,870 → 5,152. 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 Little Falls’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Little Falls, about 20 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Little Falls workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,290 commuters (the 7% 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.
In Little Falls, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Little Falls is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns, #124 of 273 in Minnesota. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.0% 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 3,520 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). 9.2% of Little Falls households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Little Falls’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Little Falls compares with U.S. towns of 6,500 to 12,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Albertville MN | 8,544 | $133K | 1.1% | 0.2% | 5% | A+ |
| 17 | Mendota Heights MN | 11,475 | $133K | 2.8% | 1.4% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Victoria MN | 12,447 | $196K | 2.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,590 | Independence Township MO | 11,792 | $56K | 18.4% | 5.3% | 37% | D |
| 2,591 | Fort Madison IA | 9,935 | $51K | 15.0% | 7.3% | 37% | D |
| 2,592 | Little Falls MN | 9,277 | $48K | 18.7% | 6.1% | 36% | D |
| 2,593 | Cadillac MI | 10,438 | $52K | 18.2% | 5.9% | 39% | D |
| 2,594 | Hartsville SC | 7,374 | $49K | 19.6% | 7.2% | 27% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,841 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Little Falls, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Little Falls and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Little Falls Township (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Little Falls workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Falls | – | D | B+ | 20 min | $47,863 |
| Little Falls Township | 2% | B+ | D− | 27 min | $108,333 |
| Pike Creek Township | under 2% | — | — | 32 min | — |
| Belle Prairie Township | under 2% | — | — | 35 min | — |
| Green Prairie Township | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Pike Creek Township, Belle Prairie Township and Green Prairie Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Little Falls’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 Little Falls: questions
What is the median household income in Little Falls?
$47,863 (±$9,949) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Little Falls?
18.7%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Little Falls?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Little Falls work?
36% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Cloud (8%, 33 mi), Brainerd (5%, 26 mi), Rice (2%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Little Falls walkable?
Little Falls is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Little Falls without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Little Falls, from the people who make the trip.
More of Little Falls
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.