Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5At 1.7%, unemployment in Wahpeton is lower than in 88% of U.S. towns
Wahpeton grades C+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. About two in five work in Wahpeton itself; outside it, Fargo draws the most (13%, 42 miles). The average commute, 18 minutes each way, matches the North Dakota norm.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Wahpeton and work: the main findings
Wahpeton’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Wahpeton is Fargo, 42 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (458) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Many of the people who work in Wahpeton live in another state
Breckenridge, MN (12%) and Fergus Falls, MN (2%) are among the top places Wahpeton’s workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 14% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
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.
What’s behind Wahpeton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wahpeton is better than 37% of U.S. towns, #19 of 23 in North Dakota. Unemployment holds Wahpeton’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 20% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wahpeton could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Near or far: the trip to work from Wahpeton
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.
Where Wahpeton goes to work
Where Wahpeton 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.
Wahpeton on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,112 residents head out to work, 1,364 work right here, and 2,284 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 (1.05 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.
The 3,648 jobs based in Wahpeton
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wahpeton, 2013 → 2023: 3,878 → 3,648. 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 Wahpeton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 18 minutes to work from Wahpeton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wahpeton workers work from home, vs 8% across North Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,074 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.
In Wahpeton, walking beats the bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.2% across North Dakota, on an EPA index of 8.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,371 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). 10.1% of Wahpeton households have no vehicle (North Dakota 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wahpeton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Wahpeton places 2,111th of 3,007 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 5,700 to 11,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 176 | Horace ND | 7,001 | $139K | 4.3% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,148 | Watford City ND | 6,378 | $102K | 7.8% | 0.6% | 38% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,109 | Clifton Heights PA | 6,835 | $71K | 15.6% | 17.1% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,110 | Coral Hills MD | 9,756 | $69K | 18.3% | 8.5% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,111 | Wahpeton ND | 8,141 | $63K | 15.6% | 1.7% | 39% | C+ |
| 2,112 | Fort Stockton TX | 8,027 | $85K | 21.0% | 2.2% | 31% | C+ |
| 2,113 | Montrose VA | 8,285 | $50K | 19.9% | 4.2% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,494 | Devils Lake ND | 7,333 | $43K | 21.8% | 1.7% | 53% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,007 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Wahpeton, the top three, the last and three more from North Dakota.
15% of Wahpeton works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Breckenridge (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wahpeton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wahpeton | – | C+ | A | 18 min | $62,750 |
| Center Township | 3% | — | — | 30 min | — |
| Dwight Township | 5% | — | — | 21 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Center Township and Dwight Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Wahpeton’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 Wahpeton: questions
What is the median household income in Wahpeton?
$62,750 (±$8,075) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,657 across North Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wahpeton?
15.6%, against 10.8% across North Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wahpeton?
18 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 Wahpeton work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fargo (13%, 42 mi), Breckenridge (7%, 1 mi), Dwight Township (5%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wahpeton walkable?
Wahpeton is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wahpeton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wahpeton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wahpeton
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.