Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY 3.0Households in Spring Park have lower incomes than those in 90% of U.S. towns
9.0% of residents live below the poverty line; Minnesota has 9.3%. Spring Park grades B− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.0 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 26.2 in Minneapolis.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Spring Park apart on work
The four measures behind Spring Park’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Spring Park is better than 52% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Spring Park’s grade up (ahead of 89% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($48,315, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (8.9%) is left out: Spring Park’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, Spring Park could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Jobs in Spring Park: what the 835 are
835 jobs are based in Spring Park.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spring Park, 2013 → 2023: 507 → 835. 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 Spring Park’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Spring Park for work, and who comes in
On a workday 728 residents head out to work, 25 work right here, and 810 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.
10% of working residents work in Minneapolis
Where Spring Park clocks in
10% 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.
About 21 minutes each way for Spring Park’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spring Park workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 792 commuters (the 7% 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.
Where in the region Spring Park works
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.
Spring Park is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Spring Park is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.0% 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 855 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, 66% 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). 14.2% of Spring Park households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Spring Park’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,200, Spring Park ranks 1,901st of 5,381 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Medicine Lake MN | 1,342 | $184K | 2.7% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Louisville Township MN | 1,361 | $143K | 1.1% | 0.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Tonka Bay MN | 1,561 | $156K | 3.5% | 9.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,899 | Madison Township OH | 1,803 | $95K | 10.6% | 7.2% | 0% | B− |
| 1,900 | Tyhee ID | 1,568 | $93K | 11.9% | 5.4% | 3% | B− |
| 1,901 | Spring Park MN | 1,647 | $48K | 9.0% | 8.9% | 3% | B− |
| 1,902 | Nutter Fort WV | 1,451 | $68K | 8.4% | 3.5% | 3% | B− |
| 1,903 | Thurston NY | 1,228 | $73K | 3.4% | 3.6% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,381 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Spring Park, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
How Spring Park compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Orono (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Spring Park workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Park | – | B− | A− | 21 min | $48,315 |
| Mound | under 4% | B+ | B | 31 min | $86,675 |
| Orono | 5% | A+ | C+ | 25 min | $173,527 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Spring Park’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 Spring Park: questions
What is the median household income in Spring Park?
$48,315 (±$11,872) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spring Park?
9.0%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spring Park?
21 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Spring Park work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Minneapolis (10%, 18 mi), Minnetonka (7%, 8 mi), Plymouth (7%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Spring Park walkable?
Spring Park is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 13.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spring Park without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. 66% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Spring Park, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spring Park
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.