Eastwood Park Bridge · Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Minot has lower unemployment (3.4%) than 63% of U.S. towns
About two in three work in Minot itself; outside it, Bismarck draws the most (4%, 101 miles). Jobs and income earn Minot B−; getting around on foot earns it B+. A typical one-way commute lasts 20 minutes; North Dakota averages 18, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Minot, in a few figures
Most jobs in Minot go to people who live here
Of the 22,958 jobs based in Minot, 57% are held by Minot residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Minot’s working residents have a job less than 3 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 20 minutes, longer than the North Dakota average of 18. Time on the road ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Minot’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Minot is better than 52% of U.S. towns, #11 of 23 in North Dakota. Unemployment holds Minot’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (11.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Minot could be anywhere from C+ to B.
The daily commute in and out of Minot
On a workday 7,704 residents head out to work, 13,192 work right here, and 9,766 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.10 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.
Getting to work from Minot takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Minot workers work from home, vs 8% across North Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 24,323 commuters (the 5% 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 Minot goes to work
Where Minot clocks in
4% of workers
3% 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 Minot’s employers do
22,958 jobs are based in Minot.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Minot, 2013 → 2023: 24,563 → 22,958. 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 Minot’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Minot’s commute, mile by mile
About 25% 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.
In Minot, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Minot is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #11 of 23 in North Dakota. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.6% 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 25,680 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). 5.9% of Minot households have no vehicle (North Dakota 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Minot’s commuters take a bus or train.
Minot next to U.S. towns of 33,000 to 64,000: 631st of 941 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 254 | West Fargo ND | 41,175 | $91K | 8.8% | 1.1% | 18% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 599 | Grand Forks ND | 60,365 | $64K | 15.5% | 2.4% | 70% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 629 | Nicholasville KY | 33,857 | $69K | 13.1% | 3.6% | 20% | B− |
| 630 | Springfield Township OH | 35,887 | $74K | 11.8% | 5.5% | 3% | B− |
| 631 | Minot ND | 47,308 | $73K | 11.1% | 3.4% | 63% | B− |
| 632 | Clay Township IN | 34,221 | $72K | 9.8% | 5.4% | 19% | B− |
| 633 | La Quinta CA | 39,440 | $99K | 8.8% | 7.3% | 13% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 941 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Minot, the top three, the last and three more from North Dakota.
Next door to Minot
The biggest share goes to Nedrose Township (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Minot workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minot | – | B− | B+ | 20 min | $73,219 |
| Nedrose Township | 2% | B+ | C− | 18 min | $123,967 |
| Harrison Township | 2% | A− | D | 20 min | $122,361 |
| Afton Township | 1% | — | — | 16 min | — |
| Sundre Township | under 1% | A | D | 24 min | $107,218 |
| Eureka Township | under 1% | — | — | 16 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Afton Township and Eureka Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Minot’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 Minot: questions
What is the median household income in Minot?
$73,219 (±$3,822) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,657 across North Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Minot?
11.1%, against 10.8% across North Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Minot?
20 minutes each way on average, against 18 across North Dakota and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Minot work?
63% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bismarck (4%, 101 mi), Fargo (3%, 228 mi), Nedrose Township (2%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Minot walkable?
Minot is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Minot without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Minot, from the people who make the trip.
More of Minot
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.