Photo: Andrew Filer · CC BY-SA 2.0New Rockford has lower household incomes than 94% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn New Rockford D; getting around on foot earns it A. Poverty touches 12.9% of residents (North Dakota 10.8%). About one in three work in New Rockford; the top destination outside it is Carrington (8%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Why New Rockford gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, New Rockford is better than 6% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds New Rockford’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.7%) is left out: New Rockford’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, New Rockford could be anywhere from D− to C−.
New Rockford by day and by night
On a workday 377 residents head out to work, 205 work right here, and 325 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 (0.91 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Out of New Rockford to work: where people go
Where New Rockford clocks in
8% of workers
6% of workers
5% 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 work there is in New Rockford: 530 jobs
530 jobs are based in New Rockford.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in New Rockford, 2014 → 2024: 554 → 530. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs New Rockford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long New Rockford spends getting to work: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of New Rockford workers work from home, vs 8% across North Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 595 commuters (the 4% 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.
New Rockford’s commute, mile by mile
About 29% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In New Rockford, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, New Rockford is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 14.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.2% across North Dakota, on an EPA index of 8.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 622 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). 5.7% of New Rockford households have no vehicle (North Dakota 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of New Rockford’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, New Rockford is 4,785th among 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 101 | Reed Township ND | 1,151 | $131K | 0.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 191 | Williston Township ND | 1,116 | $250K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 376 | Sundre Township ND | 1,024 | $107K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,783 | Upper Fruitland NM | 1,457 | $49K | 29.3% | 12.1% | 0% | D |
| 4,784 | Stoneville NC | 1,364 | $45K | 28.3% | 8.1% | 1% | D |
| 4,785 | New Rockford ND | 1,342 | $44K | 12.9% | 3.7% | 35% | D |
| 4,786 | Kettle Falls WA | 1,657 | $49K | 14.5% | 7.3% | 11% | D |
| 4,787 | Lubec ME | 1,237 | $52K | 14.7% | 2.7% | 22% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 New Rockford, the top three, the last and three more from North Dakota.
New Rockford and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Superior Township (5%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | New Rockford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Rockford | – | D | A | 14 min | $43,600 |
| New Rockford Township | under 2% | — | — | 15 min | — |
| Superior Township | 5% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. New Rockford Township and Superior Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of New Rockford’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 2024, 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 New Rockford: questions
What is the median household income in New Rockford?
$43,600 (±$9,058) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,657 across North Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in New Rockford?
12.9%, against 10.8% across North Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from New Rockford?
14 minutes each way on average, against 18 across North Dakota and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in New Rockford work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Carrington (8%, 16 mi), Fargo (6%, 122 mi), Devils Lake (5%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is New Rockford walkable?
New Rockford is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 15% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around New Rockford without a car?
0% 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 New Rockford, from the people who make the trip.
More of New Rockford
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.