Photo: Andrew Filer (afiler) · CC BY-SA 2.0Mandan has lower unemployment (1.5%) than 90% of U.S. towns
The average commute, 18 minutes each way, matches the North Dakota norm. Jobs and income earn Mandan B+; getting around on foot earns it B−. About one in four work in Mandan itself; outside it, Bismarck draws the most (53%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Mandan apart
More than half of Mandan works in Bismarck
6,014 working residents, 53%, have their main job in Bismarck, 5.7 miles away. That’s twice as many as work in Mandan itself. The commute map ↓
Most Mandan residents work close to home
80% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
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.
Mandan’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mandan is better than 67% of U.S. towns, #9 of 23 in North Dakota. Unemployment holds Mandan’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($71,780, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mandan could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Commuting out of Mandan: the destinations
Where Mandan clocks in
53% of workers
2% 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.
Half of Mandan commutes less than 5 miles
About 15% 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.
Who works in Mandan, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 8,576 residents head out to work, 2,798 work right here, and 5,951 people come in from elsewhere.
About 22,000 people are in Mandan on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.77 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 kinds of work in Mandan
8,749 jobs are based in Mandan.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mandan, 2013 → 2023: 7,493 → 8,749. 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 Mandan’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 18 minutes each way, about the ND average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mandan workers work from home, vs 8% across North Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,238 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.
Getting around Mandan: mostly by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.2% across North Dakota.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 13,733 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). 2.7% of Mandan households have no vehicle (North Dakota 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mandan’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Mandan ranks: 766th of 1,516 U.S. towns of 18,000 to 34,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 764 | Ocean Springs MS | 18,993 | $80K | 5.5% | 4.2% | 23% | B+ |
| 765 | Harrison NJ | 22,105 | $93K | 11.8% | 5.3% | 5% | B+ |
| 766 | Mandan ND | 25,061 | $72K | 9.8% | 1.5% | 25% | B+ |
| 767 | Fairhope AL | 26,625 | $94K | 8.2% | 3.5% | 21% | B+ |
| 768 | Tumwater WA | 28,010 | $95K | 7.0% | 5.3% | 17% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,035 | Williston ND | 29,522 | $79K | 8.1% | 4.9% | 57% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,041 | Dickinson ND | 25,870 | $83K | 13.6% | 3.2% | 52% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,516 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Mandan, the top three, the last and three more from North Dakota.
Around Mandan: the bordering towns
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mandan workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mandan | – | B+ | B− | 18 min | $71,780 |
| Captain's Landing Township | under 1% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Captain's Landing Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mandan’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Mandan: questions
What is the median household income in Mandan?
$71,780 (±$10,349) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,657 across North Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mandan?
9.8%, against 10.8% across North Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mandan?
18 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 Mandan work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bismarck (53%, 6 mi), Fargo (2%, 192 mi), Minot (2%, 99 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mandan walkable?
Mandan is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mandan without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mandan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mandan
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.