Photo: afiler from Seattle (ex-Minneapolis) · CC BY-SA 2.0How Lakota works: jobs, income and commuting
Working residents average 20 minutes each way; North Dakota averages 18, the U.S. 26. About one in five work in Lakota itself; outside it, McVille draws the most (10%, 21 miles). 316 jobs are based in Lakota; 224 of its residents have a job.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Lakota
A big share show a job far from home
36% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Many jobs in Lakota pay little
26% of the jobs based in Lakota pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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; with 224 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Lakota
About 36% 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.
The kinds of work in Lakota
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lakota, 2013 → 2023: 297 → 316. 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 Lakota’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Lakota, and who commutes in
On a workday 173 residents head out to work, 51 work right here, and 265 people come in from elsewhere.
About 780 people are in Lakota on a workday afternoon, 13% 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.
Out of Lakota to work: where people go
Where Lakota clocks in
10% of workers
9% of workers
7% 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.
A commute of about 20 minutes in Lakota
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lakota workers work from home, vs 8% across North Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 308 commuters (the 10% 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.
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 Lakota: questions
What is the median household income in Lakota?
$66,090 (±$4,178) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,657 across North Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lakota?
14.6%, against 10.8% across North Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lakota?
20 minutes each way on average, against 18 across North Dakota and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lakota work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are McVille (10%, 21 mi), Grand Forks (9%, 59 mi), Fargo (7%, 108 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Lakota without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lakota, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lakota
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.