Photo: Northernraider83 · CC BY-SA 4.0Cavalier’s household incomes are lower than in 73% of U.S. towns
About one in three stay in Cavalier for work; outside it, Fargo is the main destination (7%, 138 miles). 6.2% of residents are in poverty, against 10.8% across North Dakota. Cavalier grades 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
What the numbers say about work in Cavalier
Income, poverty and work: Cavalier’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Cavalier is better than 27% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Cavalier’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (8.7%) is left out: Cavalier’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, Cavalier could be anywhere from D to B−.
How long Cavalier spends getting to work: about 11 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cavalier workers work from home, vs 8% across North Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 623 commuters (the 11% who work from home are left out). Across North Dakota: 85% drive alone, <1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How many people are in Cavalier by day
On a workday 336 residents head out to work, 174 work right here, and 543 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Cavalier on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.41 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.
The towns that employ Cavalier’s residents
Where Cavalier clocks in
7% of workers
6% of workers
5% 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 717 jobs based in Cavalier
717 jobs are based in Cavalier.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cavalier, 2013 → 2023: 739 → 717. 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 Cavalier’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Cavalier goes to work
About 26% 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.
Cavalier 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, Cavalier is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Cavalier 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 698 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). 5.7% of Cavalier households have no vehicle (North Dakota 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cavalier’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cavalier is 2,548th of 4,312 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,600 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 80 | Reed Township ND | 1,151 | $131K | 0.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 144 | Williston Township ND | 1,116 | $250K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 287 | Sundre Township ND | 1,024 | $107K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,546 | Oakland SC | 1,060 | $69K | 22.8% | 6.7% | 1% | C |
| 2,547 | Pilot Mountain NC | 1,437 | $49K | 12.4% | 3.5% | 9% | C |
| 2,548 | Cavalier ND | 1,218 | $60K | 6.2% | 8.7% | 34% | C |
| 2,549 | Ashley OH | 1,343 | $57K | 20.1% | 4.8% | 2% | C |
| 2,550 | Sperry OK | 1,241 | $50K | 17.7% | 5.1% | 4% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | 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 Cavalier, the top three, the last and three more from North Dakota.
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 Cavalier: questions
What is the median household income in Cavalier?
$60,449 (±$14,421) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,657 across North Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cavalier?
6.2%, against 10.8% across North Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cavalier?
11 minutes each way on average, against 18 across North Dakota and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cavalier work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fargo (7%, 138 mi), Grand Forks (6%, 65 mi), Crystal (5%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cavalier walkable?
Cavalier is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cavalier without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cavalier, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cavalier
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.