Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Ortonville are lower than in 80% of U.S. towns
For 6% of workers, the job is at home, where Minnesota as a whole has 18%. Poverty touches 12.1% of residents, where Minnesota as a whole has 9.3%. The two grades for Ortonville are D for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Ortonville, in a few figures
Commutes from Ortonville are quick
The average trip to work takes 11 minutes, against 23 across Minnesota. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Minnesota worker. Time on the road ↓
A lot of Ortonville workers cross into South Dakota
25% of Ortonville workers work outside Minnesota, the Census survey finds. In the commute data, Milbank (11%), Fargo (3%) and Alban Township (2%) are among the top workplaces. The commute map ↓
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 848 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Ortonville
On income, poverty and job access, Ortonville is better than 13% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Ortonville’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (2.1%) is left out: Ortonville’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Ortonville could be anywhere from D to C.
The daily trip from Ortonville: about 11 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ortonville workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 737 commuters (the 6% 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.
11% of working residents work in Milbank
Where Ortonville clocks in
11% of workers
3% 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.
Who commutes out of Ortonville, and who commutes in
On a workday 464 residents head out to work, 384 work right here, and 633 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.20 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Jobs in Ortonville: what the 1,017 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ortonville, 2014 → 2024: 1,012 → 1,017. 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 Ortonville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Ortonville
About 24% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Ortonville is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ortonville is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Ortonville 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 785 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). 4.7% of Ortonville households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Ortonville’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Ortonville is 4,498th of 5,509 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Tonka Bay MN | 1,561 | $156K | 3.5% | 9.7% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | May Township MN | 2,638 | $137K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Stillwater Township MN | 1,831 | $162K | 3.4% | 3.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,496 | Hartford MI | 2,448 | $42K | 16.3% | 8.3% | 9% | D |
| 4,497 | Bangor MI | 1,965 | $50K | 19.9% | 7.6% | 10% | D |
| 4,498 | Ortonville MN | 1,967 | $56K | 12.1% | 2.1% | 45% | D |
| 4,499 | Jasper Township IL | 1,723 | $64K | 15.3% | 2.7% | 2% | D |
| 4,500 | Lisbon ND | 2,184 | $64K | 15.4% | 3.5% | 37% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 61% | 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 Ortonville, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Work in the towns next to Ortonville
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ortonville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ortonville | – | D | A− | 11 min | $56,133 |
| Ortonville Township | under 1% | — | — | 9 min | — |
| Big Stone Township | under 1% | — | — | 20 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Ortonville Township and Big Stone Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ortonville’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 Ortonville: questions
What is the median household income in Ortonville?
$56,133 (±$6,728) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ortonville?
12.1%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ortonville?
11 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ortonville work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Milbank (11%, 11 mi), Clinton (4%, 11 mi), Fargo (3%, 110 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Ortonville walkable?
Ortonville is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ortonville without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ortonville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ortonville
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.