Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Minden (2.6%) is lower than in 76% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 4% of workers, where Nebraska as a whole has 11%. For jobs and income Minden is better than 58% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (B). About one in four stay in Minden for work; outside it, Kearney is the main destination (22%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Minden
What’s behind Minden’s Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Minden’s grade up (4.8%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Minden could be anywhere from C to A−.
Getting to work from Minden takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Minden workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,604 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Nebraska: 86% 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 and out of Minden on a workday
On a workday 1,104 residents head out to work, 393 work right here, and 538 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,600 people are in Minden on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.62 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.
Where Minden goes to work
Where Minden clocks in
22% 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 931 jobs based in Minden
931 jobs are based in Minden.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Minden, 2013 → 2023: 1,106 → 931. 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 Minden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Minden
About 17% 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.
The commute in Minden is mostly behind the wheel
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.5% across Nebraska.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,669 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). 0.5% of Minden households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Minden’s commuters take a bus or train.
Minden is 1,795th of 4,562 U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,200 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 190 | Township 2 NE | 3,213 | $116K | 4.0% | 1.5% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 290 | Valley NE | 3,412 | $110K | 5.3% | 2.1% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 351 | Hickman NE | 3,663 | $104K | 2.6% | 1.7% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,793 | Story City IA | 3,382 | $97K | 12.6% | 3.5% | 20% | B |
| 1,794 | Brusly LA | 2,614 | $106K | 7.9% | 19.1% | 2% | B |
| 1,795 | Minden NE | 3,133 | $68K | 4.8% | 2.6% | 26% | B |
| 1,796 | East Syracuse NY | 2,973 | $62K | 11.5% | 3.1% | 5% | B |
| 1,797 | Posey Township IN | 4,005 | $94K | 10.6% | 3.1% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,562 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Minden, the top three, the last and three more from Nebraska.
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 Minden: questions
What is the median household income in Minden?
$68,449 (±$7,403) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Minden?
4.8%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Minden?
20 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Minden work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kearney (22%, 15 mi), Hastings (5%, 31 mi), Grand Island (5%, 43 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Minden walkable?
Minden is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Minden without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Minden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Minden
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.