Waite Park draws 7,743 commuters a day, with 2.4 jobs for every working resident
6% of workers work from home; Minnesota has 18%. 8,139 jobs are based in Waite Park, against 3,401 working residents. The two grades for Waite Park are C− 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
Waite Park and work: the main findings
Much of Waite Park works one town over
45% of working residents work in a town that borders Waite Park: St. Cloud (42%) and St. Joseph (3%). Next door ↓
Waite Park is where the jobs are
Waite Park has 8,139 jobs, 2.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 13,000 people are in town, 56% more than the 8,500 who live here. Day and night ↓
Most Waite Park residents work close to home
65% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. 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.
Why Waite Park gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Waite Park is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #250 of 273 in Minnesota. Job access by car holds Waite Park’s grade up (ahead of 71% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (21.2%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Waite Park could be anywhere from D to B.
In and out of Waite Park on a workday
On a workday 3,005 residents head out to work and 396 work right here.
About 13,000 people are in Waite Park on a workday afternoon, 56% more 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.
Waite Park’s commute, mile by mile
About 20% 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.
Where the people who work in Waite Park live
Where Waite Park clocks in
42% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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 Waite Park
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Waite Park, 2013 → 2023: 6,719 → 8,139. 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 Waite Park’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Waite Park: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Waite Park workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,623 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Waite Park
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Waite Park is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #42 of 273 in Minnesota. Both inputs place Waite Park near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,848 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). 9.7% of Waite Park households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Waite Park’s commuters take a bus or train.
Waite Park places 2,498th of 2,981 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 5,900 to 11,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Albertville MN | 8,544 | $133K | 1.1% | 0.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 47 | Corcoran MN | 9,269 | $133K | 3.6% | 1.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Livonia Township MN | 6,436 | $137K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,496 | Belleview FL | 6,512 | $58K | 16.8% | 5.9% | 4% | C− |
| 2,497 | Douglas WY | 6,469 | $83K | 15.6% | 5.8% | 46% | C− |
| 2,498 | Waite Park MN | 8,450 | $59K | 21.2% | 7.5% | 12% | C− |
| 2,499 | Logan OH | 7,164 | $58K | 27.3% | 3.6% | 30% | C− |
| 2,500 | Southport NY | 8,740 | $63K | 14.8% | 6.6% | 6% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,981 | 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 Waite Park, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Work next door: 45% of Waite Park’s workers
The biggest share goes to St. Cloud (42%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Waite Park workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waite Park | – | C− | A | 19 min | $59,285 |
| St. Cloud | 42% | C | A | 20 min | $61,374 |
| St. Joseph Township | under 1% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| St. Joseph | 3% | B− | B+ | 19 min | $74,946 |
Same-state neighbors only. St. Joseph Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Waite Park’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 Waite Park: questions
What is the median household income in Waite Park?
$59,285 (±$11,270) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Waite Park?
21.2%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Waite Park?
19 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Waite Park work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Cloud (42%, 4 mi), Sartell (3%, 7 mi), St. Joseph (3%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Waite Park walkable?
Waite Park is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Waite Park without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Waite Park, from the people who make the trip.
More of Waite Park
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.