Photo: Skvader · CC BY-SA 4.0At 2.8%, unemployment in St. Joseph is lower than in 73% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 8% of workers, against 18% across Minnesota. The two grades for St. Joseph are B− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in ten stay in St. Joseph for work; outside it, St. Cloud is the main destination (31%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in St. Joseph
St. Joseph trades workers with the towns around it
St. Joseph has about as many jobs (2,728) as working residents (2,844), but they are mostly different people: 2,561 residents leave for work each day while 2,445 people come in. Only 10% of the jobs in St. Joseph are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of St. Joseph works one town over
38% of working residents work in a town that borders St. Joseph: St. Cloud (31%) and Waite Park (7%). Next door ↓
Most St. Joseph residents work close to home
63% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. 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.
Income, poverty and work: St. Joseph’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, St. Joseph is better than 51% of U.S. towns, #192 of 273 in Minnesota. Unemployment holds St. Joseph’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (19.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, St. Joseph could be anywhere from C to A−.
St. Joseph by day and by night
On a workday 2,561 residents head out to work, 283 work right here, and 2,445 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 (0.96 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.
How many miles St. Joseph commutes
About 22% 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.
Out of St. Joseph to work: where people go
Where St. Joseph clocks in
31% of workers
4% 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 work there is in St. Joseph: 2,728 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Joseph, 2013 → 2023: 2,047 → 2,728. 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. Joseph’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 19 minutes from St. Joseph
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Joseph workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,518 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.
In St. Joseph, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, St. Joseph is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns, #117 of 273 in Minnesota. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 16.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Minnesota, on an EPA index of 6.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,802 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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). 3.8% of St. Joseph households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of St. Joseph’s commuters take a bus or train.
St. Joseph is 1,771st of 3,168 U.S. towns of 4,800 to 9,200 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Elko New Market MN | 5,300 | $152K | 1.1% | 0.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Albertville MN | 8,544 | $133K | 1.1% | 0.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Credit River MN | 5,644 | $143K | 2.1% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,769 | Kenneth City FL | 4,868 | $49K | 13.8% | 2.8% | 1% | B− |
| 1,770 | Berlin MD | 5,335 | $81K | 18.9% | 2.1% | 14% | B− |
| 1,771 | St. Joseph MN | 6,846 | $75K | 19.1% | 2.8% | 10% | B− |
| 1,772 | Washington Township OH | 5,113 | $64K | 6.0% | 4.1% | 6% | B− |
| 1,773 | Castroville CA | 6,720 | $89K | 18.4% | 4.2% | 8% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,168 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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. Joseph, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Work next door: 38% of St. Joseph’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | St. Joseph workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Joseph | – | B− | B+ | 19 min | $74,946 |
| St. Joseph Township | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Waite Park | 7% | C− | A | 19 min | $59,285 |
| St. Wendel Township | under 2% | A− | D− | 26 min | $105,057 |
| St. Cloud | 31% | C | A | 20 min | $61,374 |
| Le Sauk Township | under 2% | A− | C | 22 min | $94,167 |
Same-state neighbors only. St. Joseph 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 St. Joseph’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. Joseph: questions
What is the median household income in St. Joseph?
$74,946 (±$14,394) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Joseph?
19.1%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Joseph?
19 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. Joseph work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Cloud (31%, 7 mi), Waite Park (7%, 4 mi), Sartell (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is St. Joseph walkable?
St. Joseph is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 16% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. Joseph without a car?
3% 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 St. Joseph, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Joseph
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.