How Renville works: jobs, income and commuting
2% of workers work from home, next to 18% for Minnesota as a whole. For jobs and income Renville is better than 22% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (B). About one in seven stay in Renville for work; outside it, Redwood Falls is the main destination (15%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Renville: the figures worth knowing
Renville and Redwood Falls trade workers both ways
Redwood Falls is the top workplace for Renville residents (15%) and also where the most people who work in Renville come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Renville workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 18% across Minnesota. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Renville are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 23 across Minnesota. That’s about 38 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; with 556 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Renville
Household income holds Renville’s grade up ($69,306, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 16% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (5.3%) is left out: Renville’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, Renville could be anywhere from D to C+.
The places Renville commutes to
Where Renville clocks in
15% 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.
Each way, about 18 minutes from Renville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Renville workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 645 commuters (the 2% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Renville
On a workday 481 residents head out to work, 75 work right here, and 518 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 (1.07 per resident).
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 work there is in Renville: 593 jobs
593 jobs are based in Renville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Renville, 2013 → 2023: 612 → 593. 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 Renville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Renville
About 22% 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.
Few in Renville walk, bike or ride to work
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 659 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). 7.8% of Renville households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Renville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Renville places 3,223rd of 4,866 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Medicine Lake MN | 1,342 | $184K | 2.7% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Dellwood MN | 1,148 | $225K | 4.1% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Louisville Township MN | 1,361 | $143K | 1.1% | 0.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,221 | Londonderry Township PA | 1,623 | $52K | 6.0% | 2.1% | 2% | C− |
| 3,222 | Monongahela Township PA | 1,415 | $70K | 12.9% | 1.7% | 4% | C− |
| 3,223 | Renville MN | 1,268 | $69K | 13.1% | 5.3% | 13% | C− |
| 3,224 | Independence WI | 1,487 | $58K | 10.4% | 3.8% | 5% | C− |
| 3,225 | Lynn Township MI | 1,113 | $73K | 12.8% | 4.6% | <1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Renville, 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 Renville: questions
What is the median household income in Renville?
$69,306 (±$8,879) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Renville?
13.1%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Renville?
18 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Renville work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Redwood Falls (15%, 18 mi), Emmet Township (12%, 3 mi), Olivia (7%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Renville walkable?
Renville is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Renville without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Renville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Renville
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.