Photo: Andrew Filer from Seattle (ex-Minneapolis) · CC BY-SA 3.0Columbus has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.1 for each
Employers in Columbus report 4 jobs, against 63 working residents. Hardly any stay in Columbus for work; outside it, Bowbells is the main destination (11%, 25 miles). Commuters spend 27 minutes getting to work on average; the North Dakota average is 18, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who leaves Columbus for work, and who comes in
On a workday 63 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 4 people come in from elsewhere.
About 71 people are in Columbus on a workday afternoon, 45% 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 Columbus work
Where Columbus clocks in
11% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Columbus
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Columbus, 2013 → 2023: 19 → 4. 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 Columbus’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Columbus: about 27 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Columbus workers work from home, vs 8% across North Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 27 commuters (the 4% 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.
Where in the region Columbus works
About 44% 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 Columbus: questions
What is the median household income in Columbus?
$88,750 (±$55,396) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,657 across North Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Columbus?
9.0%, against 10.8% across North Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Columbus?
27 minutes each way on average, against 18 across North Dakota and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Columbus work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bowbells (11%, 25 mi), Lignite (6%, 10 mi), Crosby (6%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Columbus without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Columbus, from the people who make the trip.
More of Columbus
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.