Portal State Bank · Photo: Andrew Filer · CC BY-SA 2.0How Portal works: jobs, income and commuting
The trip to work takes 28 minutes on average, next to 18 for North Dakota and 26 for the U.S. Hardly any stay in Portal for work; outside it, Powers Lake is the main destination (13%, 30 miles). Portal has 29 jobs, against 39 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How a workday changes Portal
On a workday 39 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 29 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.
0.74 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
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 towns that employ Portal’s residents
Where Portal clocks in
13% 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.
The kinds of work in Portal
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Portal, 2013 → 2023: 175 → 29. 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 Portal’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 28 minutes to work from Portal
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Portal workers work from home, vs 8% across North Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 69 commuters (the 7% 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.
The distance from Portal to work
About 38% 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.
How Portal compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Portal Township (5%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Portal workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portal | – | — | — | 28 min | $115,642 |
| Portal Township | 5% | — | — | — | — |
| Soo Township | under 3% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Portal Township and Soo Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Portal’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 Portal: questions
What is the median household income in Portal?
$115,642 (±$10,995) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,657 across North Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Portal?
14.7%, against 10.8% across North Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Portal?
28 minutes each way on average, against 18 across North Dakota and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Portal work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Powers Lake (13%, 30 mi), Lignite (8%, 8 mi), Crosby (5%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Portal without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 21% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Portal, from the people who make the trip.
More of Portal
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.