Photo: Andrew Filer from Seattle (ex-Minneapolis) · CC BY-SA 3.0Zap has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
A typical one-way commute lasts 25 minutes, next to 18 for North Dakota and 26 for the U.S. Employers in Zap report 12 jobs; 79 of its residents have a job. Hardly any work in Zap itself; outside it, Beulah draws the most (16%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
In and out of Zap on a workday
On a workday 79 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 12 people come in from elsewhere.
About 160 people are in Zap on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
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 Zap goes to work
Where Zap clocks in
16% of workers
15% of workers
15% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Zap
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Zap, 2013 → 2023: 12 → 12. 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 Zap’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Zap spends getting to work: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Zap workers work from home, vs 8% across North Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 83 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.
Where in the region Zap works
About 27% 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 Zap: questions
What is the median household income in Zap?
$95,000 (±$43,607) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,657 across North Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Zap?
3.0%, against 10.8% across North Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Zap?
25 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 Zap work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Beulah (16%, 7 mi), Hazen (15%, 14 mi), Bismarck (15%, 63 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Zap without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Zap, from the people who make the trip.
More of Zap
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.