Photo: MayorMetz · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Staples have lower incomes than those in 85% of U.S. towns
6% of workers work from home (Minnesota 18%). 15.9% of residents are in poverty, where Minnesota as a whole has 9.3%. Staples grades D for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Staples
Where Staples’ Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Staples is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #267 of 273 in Minnesota. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Staples’ grade.
Unemployment (6.6%) is left out: Staples’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, Staples could be anywhere from D to C−.
Staples by day and by night
On a workday 945 residents head out to work, 267 work right here, and 1,779 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,900 people are in Staples on a workday afternoon, 27% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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 daily trip into Staples
Where Staples clocks in
9% of workers
7% of workers
5% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Staples
2,046 jobs are based in Staples.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Staples, 2013 → 2023: 2,066 → 2,046. 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 Staples’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Staples: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Staples workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 745 commuters (the 6% 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 Staples’ workers travel
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Staples
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Staples is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #107 of 273 in Minnesota. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Minnesota, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 790 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 11.1% of Staples households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Staples’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Staples ranks: 3,907th of 4,405 U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Independence MN | 3,763 | $187K | 1.1% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Deephaven MN | 3,794 | $198K | 1.7% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 16 | Greenfield MN | 2,962 | $154K | 1.2% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,905 | Iron River MI | 3,027 | $54K | 20.6% | 4.7% | 30% | D |
| 3,906 | Anchor Point AK | 2,243 | $63K | 14.4% | 8.1% | — | D |
| 3,907 | Staples MN | 3,074 | $52K | 15.9% | 6.6% | 22% | D |
| 3,908 | Rosita TX | 2,933 | $37K | 12.0% | 8.1% | 30% | D |
| 3,909 | Libby MT | 3,274 | $34K | 24.0% | 3.4% | 51% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,405 | 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 Staples, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Staples and its neighbors
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Staples workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staples | – | D | A− | 22 min | $52,071 |
| Staples Township | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Thomastown Township | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
| Villard Township | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Staples Township, Thomastown Township and Villard Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Staples’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 Staples: questions
What is the median household income in Staples?
$52,071 (±$8,638) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Staples?
15.9%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Staples?
22 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Staples work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wadena (9%, 16 mi), Motley (7%, 9 mi), Brainerd (5%, 29 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Staples walkable?
Staples is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Staples without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Staples, from the people who make the trip.
More of Staples
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.