Photo: Gabriel Vanslette · CC BY 3.0Household incomes in Mendota Heights are higher than in 92% of U.S. towns
Mendota Heights grades A+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. 2.8% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 9.3% for Minnesota as a whole. 30% of workers have no commute at all, next to 18% for Minnesota as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Mendota Heights, in brief
Mendota Heights is where the jobs are
Mendota Heights has 11,865 jobs, 2.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 18,000 people are in town, 60% more than the 11,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Most jobs in Mendota Heights pay over $40,000 a year
79% of the jobs based in Mendota Heights pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
A lot of Mendota Heights works one town over
32% of working residents work in a town that borders Mendota Heights: St. Paul (20%), Eagan (6%) and Bloomington (6%). Next door ↓
A lot of Mendota Heights works from home
30% of Mendota Heights workers work from home, against 18% across Minnesota. Time on the road ↓
Most Mendota Heights residents work close to home
62% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. Only 5% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
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.
Mendota Heights’ Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mendota Heights is among the top U.S. towns, #7 of 273 in Minnesota. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Mendota Heights’ grade. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mendota Heights stays A+.
Mendota Heights on a workday afternoon
On a workday 4,771 residents head out to work, 266 work right here, and 11,599 people come in from elsewhere.
About 18,000 people are in Mendota Heights on a workday afternoon, 60% more than live here.
2.4 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
79% of the jobs in Mendota Heights pay over $3,333 a month
11,865 jobs are based in Mendota Heights.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mendota Heights, 2014 → 2024: 10,016 → 11,865. 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 Mendota Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 20 minutes to work from Mendota Heights
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mendota Heights workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,057 commuters (the 30% 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.
Miles to work from Mendota Heights
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.
The towns that send workers to Mendota Heights
Where Mendota Heights clocks in
20% of workers
18% of workers
6% 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.
Driving is how Mendota Heights gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mendota Heights is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns, #151 of 273 in Minnesota. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.6% 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 5,820 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 35% 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 3.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 76% 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). 2.0% of Mendota Heights households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Mendota Heights’ commuters take a bus or train.
Mendota Heights is 12th of 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Jerome Township OH | 11,237 | $176K | 0.4% | 0.7% | 4% | A+ |
| 11 | Albertville MN | 8,544 | $133K | 1.1% | 0.2% | 5% | A+ |
| 12 | Mendota Heights MN | 11,475 | $133K | 2.8% | 1.4% | 5% | A+ |
| 13 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| 14 | Scaggsville MD | 10,564 | $207K | 2.9% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Victoria MN | 12,447 | $196K | 2.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Dayton MN | 11,402 | $149K | 3.0% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 37 | Corcoran MN | 9,269 | $133K | 3.6% | 1.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 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 Mendota Heights, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Work next door: 32% of Mendota Heights’ workers
The biggest share goes to St. Paul (20%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mendota Heights workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mendota Heights | – | A+ | B | 20 min | $132,768 |
| Lilydale | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
| Mendota | under 2% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| Eagan | 6% | A | A− | 21 min | $108,690 |
| St. Paul | 20% | B− | A+ | 21 min | $73,394 |
| Bloomington | 6% | B+ | A | 21 min | $93,211 |
Same-state neighbors only. Lilydale and Mendota: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mendota Heights’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 Mendota Heights: questions
What is the median household income in Mendota Heights?
$132,768 (±$14,687) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mendota Heights?
2.8%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mendota Heights?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 30% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mendota Heights work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Paul (20%, 5 mi), Minneapolis (18%, 9 mi), Bloomington (6%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Mendota Heights walkable?
Mendota Heights is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mendota Heights without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mendota Heights, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mendota Heights
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.