Leonard Robinson House · Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 3.0Jobs and earnings in Sauk Rapids, and the trip to work
10% of workers work from home (Minnesota 18%). The two grades for Sauk Rapids are B for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in ten stay in Sauk Rapids for work; outside it, St. Cloud is the main destination (39%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Sauk Rapids apart
Much of Sauk Rapids works one town over
48% of working residents work in a town that borders Sauk Rapids: St. Cloud (39%), Sartell (7%) and Minden Township (2%). Next door ↓
Most Sauk Rapids residents work close to home
68% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
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.
The figures behind Sauk Rapids’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sauk Rapids is better than 61% of U.S. towns, #173 of 273 in Minnesota. Job access by car holds Sauk Rapids’ grade up (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($71,841, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sauk Rapids could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Half of Sauk Rapids commutes less than 4 miles
About 18% 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 and out of Sauk Rapids on a workday
On a workday 6,092 residents head out to work, 717 work right here, and 4,085 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Sauk Rapids on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.71 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.
Where Sauk Rapids goes to work
Where Sauk Rapids clocks in
39% of workers
7% 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.
Goods, not services: 30% of the jobs in Sauk Rapids
4,802 jobs are based in Sauk Rapids.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sauk Rapids, 2013 → 2023: 4,634 → 4,802. 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 Sauk Rapids’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 19 minutes each way for Sauk Rapids’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sauk Rapids workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,767 commuters (the 10% 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.
In Sauk Rapids, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sauk Rapids is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns, #143 of 273 in Minnesota. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.6% 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 7,511 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). <1% 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). 8.9% of Sauk Rapids households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Sauk Rapids’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,227 U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000, Sauk Rapids comes 1,153rd on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 4 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Mendota Heights MN | 11,475 | $133K | 2.8% | 1.4% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Victoria MN | 12,447 | $196K | 2.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,151 | Sellersburg IN | 10,305 | $72K | 6.9% | 5.5% | 5% | B |
| 1,152 | Robbinsdale MN | 14,030 | $88K | 11.5% | 6.2% | 3% | B |
| 1,153 | Sauk Rapids MN | 13,768 | $72K | 7.0% | 4.4% | 11% | B |
| 1,154 | Poulsbo WA | 12,749 | $116K | 9.3% | 3.7% | 15% | B |
| 1,155 | Middletown RI | 16,502 | $102K | 8.5% | 6.0% | 26% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Sauk Rapids, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Bordering towns draw 48% of Sauk Rapids’ workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sauk Rapids workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sauk Rapids | – | B | B+ | 19 min | $71,841 |
| Sauk Rapids Township | under 1% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Minden Township | 2% | A− | C− | 22 min | $76,250 |
| Sartell | 7% | A− | C+ | 19 min | $84,131 |
| St. Cloud | 39% | C | A | 20 min | $61,374 |
| Le Sauk Township | under 1% | A− | C | 22 min | $94,167 |
Same-state neighbors only. Sauk Rapids Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to St. Cloud. Darker towns draw more of Sauk Rapids’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 Sauk Rapids: questions
What is the median household income in Sauk Rapids?
$71,841 (±$6,643) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sauk Rapids?
7.0%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sauk Rapids?
19 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sauk Rapids work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Cloud (39%, 5 mi), Sartell (7%, 4 mi), Waite Park (6%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sauk Rapids walkable?
Sauk Rapids is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sauk Rapids without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sauk Rapids, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sauk Rapids
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.