Photo: Myotus · CC BY 4.0With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Osakis works elsewhere
388 jobs are based in Osakis for 812 working residents. Osakis grades D for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 87% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Osakis
38% of Osakis works in Alexandria
307 working residents, 38%, have their main job in Alexandria, 11 miles away. That’s 5 times as many as work in Osakis itself. The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Osakis
63% of Osakis residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 42% of the jobs based in Osakis pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 93% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Osakis pay little
26% of the jobs based in Osakis pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
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; with 812 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Osakis’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Osakis is better than 12% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Osakis’ grade up (14.5%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($50,833, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (0.5%) is left out: Osakis’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, Osakis could be anywhere from D− to C.
38% of working residents work in Alexandria
Where Osakis clocks in
38% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Osakis
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Osakis, 2013 → 2023: 508 → 388. 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 Osakis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Osakis
On a workday 755 residents head out to work, 57 work right here, and 331 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Osakis on a workday afternoon, 24% fewer 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 25 minutes each way for Osakis’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Osakis workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 679 commuters (the 8% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Osakis
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.
In Osakis, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Osakis is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% 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 737 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). 15.5% of Osakis households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Osakis’ commuters take a bus or train.
Osakis places 4,665th of 5,760 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Medicine Lake MN | 1,342 | $184K | 2.7% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,663 | Hill Township MI | 1,273 | $64K | 13.9% | 5.1% | 2% | D |
| 4,664 | Port Barre LA | 1,741 | $41K | 21.9% | 4.4% | 4% | D |
| 4,665 | Osakis MN | 1,739 | $51K | 14.5% | 0.5% | 7% | D |
| 4,666 | Waymart PA | 1,287 | $52K | 21.1% | 1.7% | 4% | D |
| 4,667 | Bangs TX | 1,523 | $48K | 13.0% | 2.6% | 10% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Osakis, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Osakis and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Osakis Township (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Osakis workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Osakis | – | D | C+ | 25 min | $50,833 |
| Gordon Township | under 2% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Osakis Township | 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Gordon Township and Osakis Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Osakis’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 Osakis: questions
What is the median household income in Osakis?
$50,833 (±$14,193) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Osakis?
14.5%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Osakis?
25 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Osakis work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Alexandria (38%, 11 mi), Sauk Centre (5%, 13 mi), Glenwood (4%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Osakis walkable?
Osakis is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Osakis without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Osakis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Osakis
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.