Photo: Myotus · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Wadena trail those of 80% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 5% of workers; Minnesota has 18%. Below the poverty line: 17.7% of residents, next to 9.3% across Minnesota. Wadena 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
The commute and the jobs: Wadena in brief
Wadena is the work center of its corner
Every town that borders Wadena (Leaf River Township, Wadena Township and Compton Township) has fewer jobs than working residents, while Wadena has 1.7 per resident. Next door ↓
Commutes from Wadena are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 23 across Minnesota. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Minnesota worker, and quicker than any town next door (18 to 30 minutes). 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Wadena
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wadena is better than 11% of U.S. towns, #265 of 273 in Minnesota. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Wadena’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wadena could be anywhere from D− to C+.
From Wadena, about 15 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wadena workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,889 commuters (the 5% 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.
Who leaves Wadena for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,070 residents head out to work, 651 work right here, and 2,308 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,600 people are in Wadena on a workday afternoon, 29% 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 towns that send workers to Wadena
Where Wadena clocks in
7% of workers
6% 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.
The kinds of work in Wadena
2,959 jobs are based in Wadena.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wadena, 2013 → 2023: 3,001 → 2,959. 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 Wadena’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Wadena
About 21% 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.
Wadena is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wadena is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns, #99 of 273 in Minnesota. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Minnesota, on an EPA index of 7.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,988 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). 14.9% of Wadena households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Wadena’s commuters take a bus or train.
Wadena and other U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Independence MN | 3,763 | $187K | 1.1% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Deephaven MN | 3,794 | $198K | 1.7% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 17 | Elko New Market MN | 5,300 | $152K | 1.1% | 0.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,727 | Wapato WA | 4,469 | $52K | 24.5% | 7.9% | 13% | D |
| 3,728 | Pine City MN | 3,820 | $52K | 12.4% | 8.3% | 27% | D |
| 3,729 | Wadena MN | 4,341 | $56K | 17.7% | 6.2% | 38% | D |
| 3,730 | Crystal City TX | 5,871 | $36K | 38.2% | 3.1% | 28% | D |
| 3,731 | Pike Township MO | 3,577 | $61K | 18.3% | 6.7% | 24% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,136 | 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 Wadena, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Next door to Wadena
The biggest share goes to Wadena Township (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wadena workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wadena | – | D | A− | 15 min | $56,080 |
| Leaf River Township | under 1% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Wadena Township | 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
| Compton Township | under 1% | — | — | 30 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Leaf River Township and Compton Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Wadena Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Wadena’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 Wadena: questions
What is the median household income in Wadena?
$56,080 (±$8,925) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wadena?
17.7%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wadena?
15 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wadena work?
38% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Perham (7%, 24 mi), New York Mills (6%, 13 mi), Staples (4%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wadena walkable?
Wadena is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wadena without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wadena, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wadena
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.