Households in Rolla have lower incomes than those in 89% of U.S. towns
About one in three work in Rolla; the top destination outside it is Belcourt (21%, 6 miles). Poverty touches 23.1% of residents, where North Dakota as a whole has 10.8%. Rolla grades D− for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Rolla, in a few figures
Rolla is where the jobs are
Rolla has 836 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Most Rolla residents work close to home
66% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Commutes from Rolla are quick
The average trip to work takes 10 minutes, against 18 across North Dakota. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical North Dakota worker. 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; with 540 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Rolla
On income, poverty and job access, Rolla is better than 3% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Rolla’s grade.
Unemployment (2.8%) is left out: Rolla’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, Rolla could be anywhere from D− to D.
Rolla on a workday afternoon
On a workday 350 residents head out to work, 190 work right here, and 646 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Rolla on a workday afternoon, 26% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Rolla
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.
Rolla’s commute takes about 10 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rolla workers work from home, vs 8% across North Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 440 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.
The daily trip into Rolla
Where Rolla clocks in
21% 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.
The 836 jobs based in Rolla
836 jobs are based in Rolla.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rolla, 2013 → 2023: 766 → 836. 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 Rolla’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Good to walk, short on transit: Rolla
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rolla is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Rolla near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 447 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). 21.4% of Rolla households have no vehicle (North Dakota 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rolla’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600, and where Rolla sits
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 80 | Reed Township ND | 1,151 | $131K | 0.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 144 | Williston Township ND | 1,116 | $250K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 287 | Sundre Township ND | 1,024 | $107K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,085 | Gueydan LA | 1,122 | $28K | 39.5% | 22.8% | 14% | D− |
| 4,086 | Pine Prairie LA | 1,554 | $33K | 28.2% | 13.3% | 3% | D− |
| 4,087 | Rolla ND | 1,156 | $49K | 23.1% | 2.8% | 35% | D− |
| 4,088 | Frost Township MI | 1,065 | $47K | 18.6% | 11.4% | 1% | D− |
| 4,089 | Spring Glen UT | 1,157 | $52K | 28.5% | 2.0% | <1% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Rolla, the top three, the last and three more from North Dakota.
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 Rolla: questions
What is the median household income in Rolla?
$49,219 (±$17,638) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,657 across North Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rolla?
23.1%, against 10.8% across North Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rolla?
10 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 Rolla work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Belcourt (21%, 6 mi), Minot (4%, 87 mi), Dunseith (3%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rolla walkable?
Rolla is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rolla 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 Rolla, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rolla
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.