Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY 3.0Rochester draws about two in five of Spring Valley’s working residents
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 1.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 0.6 in Rochester. The two grades for Spring Valley are C+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in five stay in Spring Valley for work; outside it, Rochester is the main destination (40%, 23 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Spring Valley apart on work
40% of Spring Valley works in Rochester
465 working residents, 40%, have their main job in Rochester, 23 miles away. That’s twice as many as work in Spring Valley itself. The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Spring Valley
63% of Spring Valley residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 45% of the jobs based in Spring Valley pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 80% leave town for their job. 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.
Inside Spring Valley’s Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Spring Valley’s grade up (3.9%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 28% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Spring Valley could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Where Spring Valley goes to work
Where Spring Valley clocks in
40% of workers
4% of workers
2% 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.
What the 800 jobs in Spring Valley are
800 jobs are based in Spring Valley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spring Valley, 2013 → 2023: 775 → 800. 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 Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Spring Valley, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 934 residents head out to work, 234 work right here, and 566 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Spring Valley on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.68 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.
About 25 minutes each way, longer than most of Minnesota
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spring Valley workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 991 commuters (the 13% 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.
How far Spring Valley goes to work
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Spring Valley
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Spring Valley is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.5% 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 1,144 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 76% 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 1.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 57% 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). 4.2% of Spring Valley households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Spring Valley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Spring Valley next to U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300: 2,860th of 5,207 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 | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Greenfield MN | 2,962 | $154K | 1.2% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Empire MN | 3,063 | $148K | 1.9% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | May Township MN | 2,638 | $137K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,858 | Portage Township MI | 3,234 | $67K | 8.6% | 3.2% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,859 | Guilford VT | 2,082 | $75K | 10.6% | 3.7% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,860 | Spring Valley MN | 2,431 | $66K | 9.3% | 3.9% | 20% | C+ |
| 2,861 | Cambria Township MI | 2,547 | $60K | 8.6% | 3.1% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,862 | Delaware NY | 2,211 | $96K | 14.5% | 3.6% | 24% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | 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 Spring Valley, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Spring Valley and its neighbors
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Spring Valley workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Valley | – | C+ | A | 25 min | $66,339 |
| Spring Valley Township | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Spring Valley Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Spring Valley’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 Valley: questions
What is the median household income in Spring Valley?
$66,339 (±$11,378) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spring Valley?
9.3%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spring Valley?
25 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Spring Valley work?
20% work in town.
Is Spring Valley walkable?
Spring Valley is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.2 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spring Valley without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Spring Valley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spring Valley
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.