Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 4.0St. Charles has some of the lowest unemployment in the country, with hardly anyone out of work
For jobs and income St. Charles is better than 88% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in seven work in St. Charles itself; outside it, Rochester draws the most (43%, 21 miles). 3.2% of residents are in poverty (Minnesota 9.3%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: St. Charles in brief
The four measures behind St. Charles’ grade
Unemployment holds St. Charles’ grade up (hardly any, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 40% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, St. Charles could be anywhere from A− to A.
Commuting out of St. Charles: the destinations
Where St. Charles clocks in
43% 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.
Who works in St. Charles, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,611 residents head out to work, 283 work right here, and 1,017 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,500 people are in St. Charles on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.69 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.
The 1,300 jobs based in St. Charles
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Charles, 2013 → 2023: 1,246 → 1,300. 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 St. Charles’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long St. Charles spends getting to work: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Charles workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,910 commuters (the 17% 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.
The commute from St. Charles, by distance
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 St. Charles, most people drive to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.5% 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 2,310 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 77% 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 1.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 60% 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). 2.3% of St. Charles households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of St. Charles’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, St. Charles is 497th among 4,023 U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Independence MN | 3,763 | $187K | 1.1% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Deephaven MN | 3,794 | $198K | 1.7% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 16 | Elko New Market MN | 5,300 | $152K | 1.1% | 0.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 495 | Londonderry Township PA | 4,925 | $92K | 8.9% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| 496 | Heidelberg Township PA | 3,086 | $113K | 5.7% | 2.1% | 3% | A |
| 497 | St. Charles MN | 4,090 | $96K | 3.2% | 0.0% | 15% | A |
| 498 | Akron PA | 4,093 | $77K | 5.0% | 1.3% | 2% | A |
| 499 | Centre Township PA | 4,264 | $95K | 3.1% | 2.7% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,023 | 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 St. Charles, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Work in the towns next to St. Charles
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | St. Charles workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Charles | – | A | B+ | 24 min | $96,200 |
| St. Charles Township | under 1% | — | — | 28 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. St. Charles Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of St. Charles’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 St. Charles: questions
What is the median household income in St. Charles?
$96,200 (±$14,917) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Charles?
3.2%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Charles?
24 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. Charles work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rochester (43%, 21 mi), Winona (7%, 20 mi), Lewiston (2%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is St. Charles walkable?
St. Charles is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.6 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. Charles without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Charles, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Charles
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.