Mountain Iron draws 2,355 commuters a day, with 2.2 jobs for every working resident
Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers, where Minnesota as a whole has 18%. Employers in Mountain Iron report 2,595 jobs; 1,160 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Mountain Iron is better than 48% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Mountain Iron in brief
Mountain Iron makes and builds things
64% of the jobs based in Mountain Iron are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Mountain Iron residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 21%. The jobs ↓
Mountain Iron is where the jobs are
Mountain Iron has 2,595 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 4,300 people are in town, 51% more than the 2,800 who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Mountain Iron works one town over
34% of working residents work in a town that borders Mountain Iron: Virginia (31%) and Eveleth (3%). Next door ↓
Few Mountain Iron workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 18% across Minnesota. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Mountain Iron are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 23 across Minnesota. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Minnesota worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
Why Mountain Iron gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Unemployment holds Mountain Iron’s grade up (3.3%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 28% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mountain Iron could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Making and building: 64% of jobs based in Mountain Iron
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mountain Iron, 2013 → 2023: 2,791 → 2,595. 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 Mountain Iron’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Mountain Iron
On a workday 920 residents head out to work and 240 work right here.
About 4,300 people are in Mountain Iron on a workday afternoon, 51% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 16 minutes to work from Mountain Iron
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mountain Iron workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,414 commuters (the 4% 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.
Where Mountain Iron’s workforce comes from
Where Mountain Iron clocks in
31% of workers
9% 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.
Mountain Iron’s commute, mile by mile
About 25% 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 Mountain Iron start in a car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Minnesota, on an EPA index of 6.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,468 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 5.2% of Mountain Iron households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mountain Iron’s commuters take a bus or train.
Mountain Iron places 2,306th of 4,703 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Independence MN | 3,763 | $187K | 1.1% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Deephaven MN | 3,794 | $198K | 1.7% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 18 | Greenfield MN | 2,962 | $154K | 1.2% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,304 | East Quincy CA | 2,723 | $70K | 5.6% | 2.9% | 28% | B− |
| 2,305 | Melwood MD | 3,401 | $81K | 12.8% | 8.6% | 1% | B− |
| 2,306 | Mountain Iron MN | 2,835 | $83K | 11.5% | 3.3% | 21% | B− |
| 2,307 | Waterford Township ND | 2,404 | $69K | 1.5% | 0.0% | 4% | B− |
| 2,308 | Liberty Grove WI | 2,130 | $80K | 3.8% | 3.7% | 21% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,703 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Mountain Iron, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Mountain Iron and its neighbors: 34% work next door
The biggest share goes to Virginia (31%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mountain Iron workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain Iron | – | B− | B+ | 16 min | $83,293 |
| Virginia | 31% | D | A− | 18 min | $51,720 |
| Great Scott Township | under 1% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Clinton Township | under 1% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Wuori Township | under 1% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| Leonidas | under 1% | — | — | 30 min | — |
| Eveleth | 3% | D | B | 20 min | $50,725 |
Same-state neighbors only. Great Scott Township, Clinton Township, Wuori Township and Leonidas: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mountain Iron’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 Mountain Iron: questions
What is the median household income in Mountain Iron?
$83,293 (±$11,205) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mountain Iron?
11.5%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mountain Iron?
16 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mountain Iron work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Virginia (31%, 5 mi), Duluth (9%, 57 mi), Hibbing (7%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mountain Iron walkable?
Mountain Iron is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mountain Iron without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mountain Iron, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mountain Iron
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.