Households in Watkins earn less than those in 66% of U.S. towns
For 5% of workers, the job is at home, next to 18% for Minnesota as a whole. Poverty touches 11.4% of residents, next to 9.3% for Minnesota as a whole. Jobs and income earn Watkins C; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Watkins at work: what stands out
Watkins and Litchfield trade workers both ways
Litchfield is the top workplace for Watkins residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Watkins come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
39% of the jobs based in Watkins are held by workers 29 or younger, against 24% of Watkins’ own working residents. The jobs ↓
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 519 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Watkins’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Watkins is better than 32% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Watkins’ grade.
Unemployment (4.0%) is left out: Watkins’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Watkins could be anywhere from D to B.
The towns that employ Watkins’ residents
Where Watkins clocks in
7% of workers
6% 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.
Inside Watkins’ 355 jobs
355 jobs are based in Watkins.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Watkins, 2013 → 2023: 297 → 355. 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 Watkins’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Watkins: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 497 residents head out to work, 22 work right here, and 333 people come in from elsewhere.
About 850 people are in Watkins on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.68 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Watkins’ commute takes about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Watkins workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 406 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.
The commute from Watkins, by distance
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: Watkins
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Watkins is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Watkins 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 428 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). 8.5% of Watkins households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Watkins’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Watkins ranks: 1,630th of 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Medicine Lake MN | 1,342 | $184K | 2.7% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Dellwood MN | 1,148 | $225K | 4.1% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Louisville Township MN | 1,361 | $143K | 1.1% | 0.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,628 | Kidder Township MO | 1,039 | $73K | 10.7% | 2.8% | 1% | C |
| 1,629 | Luna Pier MI | 1,351 | $62K | 26.0% | 3.8% | 2% | C |
| 1,630 | Watkins MN | 1,018 | $65K | 11.4% | 4.0% | 4% | C |
| 1,631 | China TX | 1,343 | $55K | 11.8% | 9.4% | 1% | C |
| 1,632 | Windsor Township IL | 1,343 | $70K | 11.3% | 2.7% | 6% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Watkins, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
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 Watkins: questions
What is the median household income in Watkins?
$64,896 (±$22,145) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Watkins?
11.4%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Watkins?
26 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Watkins work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Litchfield (18%, 14 mi), Hutchinson (7%, 30 mi), St. Cloud (6%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Watkins walkable?
Watkins is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Watkins without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Watkins, from the people who make the trip.
More of Watkins
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.