Photo: Leonard J. DeFrancisci · CC BY-SA 4.0Rochester draws about half of Plainview’s working residents
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 1.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 0.6 in Rochester. Plainview grades B− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. 4% of workers work from home; Minnesota has 18%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Plainview
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Plainview
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Plainview is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #183 of 273 in Minnesota. The poverty rate holds Plainview’s grade up (5.9%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 35% 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, Plainview could be anywhere from C to A−.
Where Plainview goes to work
Where Plainview clocks in
45% 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.
How many people are in Plainview by day
On a workday 1,445 residents head out to work, 316 work right here, and 679 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Plainview on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
0.57 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
What Plainview’s employers do
995 jobs are based in Plainview.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Plainview, 2013 → 2023: 1,165 → 995. 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 Plainview’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Plainview spends getting to work: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Plainview workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,698 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.
How far Plainview’s workers travel
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Plainview
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Plainview is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns, #8 of 273 in Minnesota. Both inputs place Plainview 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 1,778 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 45% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 58% 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). 9.8% of Plainview households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Plainview’s commuters take a bus or train.
Plainview is 2,082nd of 4,535 U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,700 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,080 | Tunkhannock Township PA | 3,962 | $83K | 7.4% | 3.6% | 13% | B− |
| 2,081 | Selbyville DE | 3,381 | $76K | 4.3% | 3.8% | 12% | B− |
| 2,082 | Plainview MN | 3,482 | $83K | 5.9% | 4.9% | 18% | B− |
| 2,083 | Archbold OH | 4,417 | $73K | 6.2% | 4.5% | 39% | B− |
| 2,084 | Johnstown Township MI | 2,917 | $82K | 9.2% | 3.9% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,535 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Plainview, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
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 Plainview: questions
What is the median household income in Plainview?
$82,926 (±$8,495) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Plainview?
5.9%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Plainview?
23 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Plainview work?
18% work in town.
Is Plainview walkable?
Plainview is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 12.9 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Plainview without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 45% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Plainview, from the people who make the trip.
More of Plainview
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.