Stock Exchange Bank · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Jobs and earnings in Fargo, and the trip to work
Fargo has 99 jobs; 118 of its residents have a job. Only 8% work in Fargo itself; outside it, Shattuck draws the most (22%, 16 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 19 minutes, next to 22 for Oklahoma and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Fargo by day and by night
On a workday 109 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 90 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 (0.84 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 people from Fargo work
Where Fargo clocks in
15% of workers
8% 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 kinds of work in Fargo
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fargo, 2013 → 2023: 82 → 99. 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 Fargo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 19 minutes from Fargo
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fargo workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 110 commuters (the 13% who work from home are left out). Across Oklahoma: 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.
Fargo’s commute, mile by mile
About 30% 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 Fargo: questions
What is the median household income in Fargo?
$70,114 (±$12,057) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fargo?
14.0%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fargo?
19 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fargo work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Shattuck (22%, 16 mi), Woodward (15%, 13 mi), Oklahoma City (8%, 134 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Fargo without a car?
0% 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 Fargo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fargo
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.