Church of St. Stephen-Catholic · Photo: Chipcity · CC BY-SA 3.0St. Stephen has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Hardly any stay in St. Stephen for work; outside it, St. Cloud is the main destination (33%, 13 miles). Employers in St. Stephen report 155 jobs; 386 of its residents have a job. Home is the office for 9% of workers (Minnesota 18%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: St. Stephen in brief
Fewer jobs are based in St. Stephen than ten years ago
Jobs counted in St. Stephen fell from 461 in 2013 to 155 in 2023, −66%. 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 ↓
St. Stephen and St. Cloud trade workers both ways
St. Cloud is the top workplace for St. Stephen residents (33%) and also where the most people who work in St. Stephen come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
St. Stephen workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 28 minutes each way, against 23 across Minnesota. Over a year that’s about 215 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical 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; with 386 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The kinds of work in St. Stephen
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Stephen, 2013 → 2023: 461 → 155. 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. Stephen’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where St. Stephen goes to work
Where St. Stephen clocks in
33% of workers
8% 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 28 minutes each way for St. Stephen’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Stephen workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 379 commuters (the 9% 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.
St. Stephen on a workday afternoon
On a workday 383 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 152 people come in from elsewhere.
About 600 people are in St. Stephen on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
St. Stephen’s commute, mile by mile
About 19% 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.
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. Stephen: questions
What is the median household income in St. Stephen?
$105,313 (±$11,331) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Stephen?
2.0%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Stephen?
28 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. Stephen work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Cloud (33%, 13 mi), Sartell (8%, 6 mi), Waite Park (8%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around St. Stephen without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Stephen, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Stephen
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.