Photo: Vas Littlecrow Wojtanowicz · Public domainHouseholds in Rice have higher incomes than those in 82% of U.S. towns
3.0% of residents are in poverty; Minnesota has 9.3%. For jobs and income Rice is better than 90% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (B−). Only 8% work in Rice itself; outside it, St. Cloud draws the most (30%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Rice: the figures worth knowing
Rice trades workers with the towns around it
Rice has about as many jobs (1,263) as working residents (1,133), but they are mostly different people: 1,046 residents leave for work each day while 1,176 people come in. Only 7% of the jobs in Rice are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Rice has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Rice went from 656 in 2013 to 1,263 in 2023, +93%. The jobs ↓
30% of Rice works in St. Cloud
337 working residents, 30%, have their main job in St. Cloud, 16 miles away. That’s 4 times as many as work in Rice itself. The commute map ↓
Most jobs in Rice pay over $40,000 a year
73% of the jobs based in Rice pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Rice makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Rice are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Rice residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 25%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Rice
The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 56% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rice could be anywhere from A− to A+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Rice
On a workday 1,046 residents head out to work, 87 work right here, and 1,176 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 (1.11 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.
Rice makes things: 36% of its jobs are in goods
1,263 jobs are based in Rice.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rice, 2013 → 2023: 656 → 1,263. 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 Rice’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that employ Rice’s residents
Where Rice clocks in
30% of workers
8% 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.
About 24 minutes each way, about the MN average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rice workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,068 commuters (the 12% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Rice
About 16% 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.
Rice is a driving town
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,214 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). 0.5% of Rice households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rice’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Rice is 396th of 5,641 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 3,000
| # | 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% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Greenfield MN | 2,962 | $154K | 1.2% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Tonka Bay MN | 1,561 | $156K | 3.5% | 9.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | May Township MN | 2,638 | $137K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 394 | Edgewood IN | 2,087 | $88K | 2.9% | 1.8% | 2% | A |
| 395 | Buffalo Township MN | 1,945 | $118K | 5.4% | 1.6% | 2% | A |
| 396 | Rice MN | 2,212 | $108K | 3.0% | 2.3% | 8% | A |
| 397 | Hudson Oaks TX | 2,800 | $125K | 3.4% | 4.4% | 2% | A |
| 398 | Pleasant Township OH | 1,719 | $124K | 1.3% | 2.2% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,641 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Rice, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Work in the towns next to Rice
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Rice workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rice | – | A | B− | 24 min | $107,692 |
| Langola Township | under 2% | A− | C− | 29 min | $114,167 |
| Brockway Township | under 2% | A | C | 25 min | $116,250 |
| Watab Township | under 2% | A− | D | 23 min | $99,018 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Rice’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 Rice: questions
What is the median household income in Rice?
$107,692 (±$11,867) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rice?
3.0%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rice?
24 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rice work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Cloud (30%, 16 mi), Sauk Rapids (8%, 12 mi), Waite Park (6%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rice walkable?
Rice is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rice without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rice, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rice
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.