Photo: Andrew Filer from Seattle (ex-Minneapolis) · CC BY-SA 2.0Drayton has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.5 for each
Employers in Drayton report 170 jobs; 348 of its residents have a job. About one in ten work in Drayton itself; outside it, Grafton draws the most (14%, 15 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 14 minutes, against 18 across North Dakota and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who commutes out of Drayton, and who commutes in
On a workday 313 residents head out to work, 35 work right here, and 135 people come in from elsewhere.
About 550 people are in Drayton on a workday afternoon, 25% 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 Drayton goes to work
Where Drayton clocks in
14% of workers
12% of workers
8% 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 Drayton’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Drayton, 2013 → 2023: 246 → 170. 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 Drayton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Drayton takes about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Drayton workers work from home, vs 8% across North Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 338 commuters (the 8% 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 Drayton works
About 18% 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 Drayton: questions
What is the median household income in Drayton?
$70,250 (±$6,257) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,657 across North Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Drayton?
5.6%, against 10.8% across North Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Drayton?
14 minutes each way on average, against 18 across North Dakota and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Drayton work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grafton (14%, 15 mi), Grand Forks (12%, 45 mi), Drayton Township (8%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Drayton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Drayton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Drayton
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.