Photo: In memoriam afiler · CC BY-SA 2.0Work, pay and getting to work in Powers Lake
142 jobs are based in Powers Lake for 159 working residents. About one in ten stay in Powers Lake for work; outside it, Bowbells is the main destination (10%, 25 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 24 minutes, where North Dakota has 18 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who leaves Powers Lake for work, and who comes in
On a workday 142 residents head out to work, 17 work right here, and 125 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 (0.89 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.
Where Powers Lake goes to work
Where Powers Lake clocks in
10% of workers
4% 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.
Jobs in Powers Lake: what the 142 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Powers Lake, 2013 → 2023: 123 → 142. 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 Powers Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Powers Lake spends getting to work: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Powers Lake workers work from home, vs 8% across North Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 141 commuters (the 2% 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.
How far it is to work from Powers Lake
About 37% 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.
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 Powers Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Powers Lake?
$79,397 (±$4,650) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,657 across North Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Powers Lake?
5.3%, against 10.8% across North Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Powers Lake?
24 minutes each way on average, against 18 across North Dakota and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Powers Lake work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bowbells (10%, 25 mi), Lignite (4%, 22 mi), Tioga (4%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Powers Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Powers Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Powers Lake
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.