Winona and St. Peter Freight Depot · Photo: Jatakuck · CC BY-SA 3.0Sleepy Eye has lower unemployment (2.7%) than 75% of U.S. towns
About one in three stay in Sleepy Eye for work; outside it, New Ulm is the main destination (25%, 13 miles). Jobs and income earn Sleepy Eye B−; getting around on foot earns it A−. 6% of workers have no commute at all, where Minnesota as a whole has 18%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Sleepy Eye, in brief
Fewer jobs are based in Sleepy Eye than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Sleepy Eye fell from 2,187 in 2013 to 1,166 in 2023, −47%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Sleepy Eye and New Ulm trade workers both ways
New Ulm is the top workplace for Sleepy Eye residents (25%) and also where the most people who work in Sleepy Eye come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Sleepy Eye are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 23 across Minnesota. That’s about 61 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Sleepy Eye
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sleepy Eye is better than 48% of U.S. towns, #209 of 273 in Minnesota. Unemployment holds Sleepy Eye’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down. It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sleepy Eye could be anywhere from C− to B+.
What work there is in Sleepy Eye: 1,166 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sleepy Eye, 2013 → 2023: 2,187 → 1,166. 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 Sleepy Eye’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that employ Sleepy Eye’s residents
Where Sleepy Eye clocks in
25% 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 15 minutes to work from Sleepy Eye
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sleepy Eye workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,699 commuters (the 6% 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.
Sleepy Eye on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,017 residents head out to work, 458 work right here, and 708 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 (0.79 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.
Sleepy Eye’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Sleepy Eye is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sleepy Eye is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #105 of 273 in Minnesota. Both inputs place Sleepy Eye 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 1,800 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). 9.6% of Sleepy Eye households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Sleepy Eye’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,700, Sleepy Eye ranks 2,386th of 4,535 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,384 | Oak Grove TN | 4,626 | $72K | 7.1% | 7.4% | 3% | B− |
| 2,385 | Gramercy LA | 2,689 | $68K | 11.2% | 4.9% | 4% | B− |
| 2,386 | Sleepy Eye MN | 3,461 | $67K | 7.8% | 2.7% | 31% | B− |
| 2,387 | North Baltimore OH | 3,409 | $60K | 14.0% | 2.4% | 12% | B− |
| 2,388 | Haw River NC | 2,425 | $61K | 25.1% | 1.7% | 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 Sleepy Eye, 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 Sleepy Eye: questions
What is the median household income in Sleepy Eye?
$66,911 (±$5,337) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sleepy Eye?
7.8%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sleepy Eye?
15 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sleepy Eye work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New Ulm (25%, 13 mi), Home Township (6%, 4 mi), Leavenworth Township (4%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sleepy Eye walkable?
Sleepy Eye is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sleepy Eye without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sleepy Eye, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sleepy Eye
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.