Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer people are out of work in Windom (2.9%) than in 71% of U.S. towns
Windom grades C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 8% of workers, next to 18% for Minnesota as a whole. About one in three stay in Windom for work; outside it, Mountain Lake Township is the main destination (13%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Windom stands out on work
Commutes from Windom are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 23 across Minnesota. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Minnesota worker. Time on the road ↓
Windom makes and builds things
38% of the jobs based in Windom are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Windom residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 39%. 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Windom
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Windom is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #221 of 273 in Minnesota. Unemployment holds Windom’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 19% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Windom could be anywhere from C− to B.
The daily trip from Windom: about 13 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Windom workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,095 commuters (the 8% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 38% of the jobs in Windom
2,726 jobs are based in Windom.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Windom, 2013 → 2023: 2,393 → 2,726. 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 Windom’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Windom by day and by night
On a workday 1,640 residents head out to work, 798 work right here, and 1,928 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.12 per resident).
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 Windom goes to work
Where Windom clocks in
13% 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 commute from Windom, by distance
About 23% 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.
In Windom, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Windom is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns, #133 of 273 in Minnesota. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.7% 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 2,274 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). 9.7% of Windom households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Windom’s commuters take a bus or train.
Windom next to U.S. towns of 3,400 to 6,500: 2,415th of 3,753 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Independence MN | 3,763 | $187K | 1.1% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Deephaven MN | 3,794 | $198K | 1.7% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 18 | Elko New Market MN | 5,300 | $152K | 1.1% | 0.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,413 | New Burlington OH | 5,426 | $73K | 12.6% | 12.6% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,414 | Manitou Springs CO | 4,577 | $85K | 11.2% | 11.8% | 14% | C+ |
| 2,415 | Windom MN | 4,817 | $75K | 14.3% | 2.9% | 33% | C+ |
| 2,416 | Bosque Farms NM | 4,174 | $82K | 17.0% | 5.9% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,417 | Gray GA | 3,567 | $73K | 7.4% | 7.0% | 13% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,753 | 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 Windom, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
Windom and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Great Bend Township (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Windom workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windom | – | C+ | B+ | 13 min | $74,899 |
| Great Bend Township | 5% | — | — | 16 min | — |
| Lakeside Township | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Great Bend Township and Lakeside Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Windom’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 Windom: questions
What is the median household income in Windom?
$74,899 (±$14,761) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Windom?
14.3%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Windom?
13 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Windom work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mountain Lake Township (13%, 10 mi), Great Bend Township (5%, 4 mi), Jackson (3%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Windom walkable?
Windom is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Windom without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Windom, from the people who make the trip.
More of Windom
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.