Photo: Andrew Filer from Seattle (ex-Minneapolis) · CC BY-SA 2.0Dawson has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
7 jobs are based in Dawson for 24 working residents. Hardly any stay in Dawson for work; outside it, Bismarck is the main destination (29%, 48 miles). 0% of workers work from home; North Dakota has 8%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Dawson by day and by night
On a workday 24 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 7 people come in from elsewhere.
About 59 people are in Dawson on a workday afternoon, 22% 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 the trip to work from Dawson ends
Where Dawson clocks in
29% 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 Dawson
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
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 Dawson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 23 minutes each way, longer than most of North Dakota
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dawson workers work from home, vs 8% across North Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 33 commuters (the 0% 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.
Half of Dawson commutes less than 20 miles
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 Dawson: questions
What is the poverty rate in Dawson?
16.7%, against 10.8% across North Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dawson?
23 minutes each way on average, against 18 across North Dakota and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dawson work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bismarck (29%, 48 mi), Steele (21%, 8 mi), Woodlawn Township (13%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Dawson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dawson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dawson
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.