Williams has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Only 2% work in Williams; the top destination outside it is Baudette (37%, 17 miles). Employers in Williams report 33 jobs, against 83 working residents. For 24% of workers, the job is at home, next to 18% for Minnesota as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who commutes out of Williams, and who commutes in
On a workday 81 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 31 people come in from elsewhere.
About 110 people are in Williams on a workday afternoon, 32% 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.
Where people from Williams work
Where Williams clocks in
37% of workers
16% of workers
2% 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.
What Williams’ employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Williams, 2013 → 2023: 3 → 33. 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 Williams’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Williams, about 21 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Williams workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 70 commuters (the 24% 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 distance from Williams to work
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.
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 Williams: questions
What is the poverty rate in Williams?
9.7%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Williams?
21 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Williams work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Baudette (37%, 17 mi), Warroad (16%, 20 mi), Park Rapids (2%, 128 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Williams without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Williams, from the people who make the trip.
More of Williams
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.