Central Planning Region: Commuting to Work

By Cameron Macht
June 2011

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Given their proximity to jobs in the Twin Cities, many people in central Minnesota have made traveling long distances to work a way of life.

Over the last two decades, central Minnesota has enjoyed tremendous population growth. From 1990 to 2010 the 13-county planning region welcomed more than 205,000 new people, making it the fastest-growing region in the state. In fact, central Minnesota’s population increased twice as fast as the state, jumping 43.1 percent compared with 21.2 percent statewide.

All but one county in the region saw population growth during that period, with the fastest increases occurring in the counties surrounding the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Sherburne County doubled in population (up 111 percent) over the last 20 years, followed by Wright County (up 81.5 percent) and Chisago County (up 76.6 percent). Isanti (up 45.9 percent), Pine (up 39.9 percent), and Mille Lacs (up 39.8 percent) all saw rapid growth as well. Those six counties were among the 11 fastest-growing counties in the state.

Central Minnesota has been a driving force for growth in the state. And while the population leap led to significant job growth in the region, many new residents found work outside the region, primarily in the nearby Twin Cities. But this growth has forced workers to endure long drives.

The Long of It

According to data from the 2005 to 2009 American Community Survey, the seven counties with the longest average commute times in the state were all located in central Minnesota, led by Isanti County at 33.2 minutes. Three other counties in the region — Kanabec, Chisago, and Sherburne — had one-way commutes that averaged more than one-half hour. Three more counties — Wright, Mille Lacs, and Pine — had travel times just below 30 minutes. Nine of the 13 counties in central Minnesota had longer mean travel times to work than the state of Minnesota, which averaged 22.2 minutes in 2009 (see Table 1).

To most people, a half-hour commute probably sounds reasonable, but all that driving can add up. With a mean one-way travel time of 33.2 minutes, workers in Isanti County averaged just over an hour in transit each day. That equals nearly 288 hours, or more than seven 40-hour work weeks each year commuting back and forth to work.

Likewise, the seven counties with the highest percentages of workers traveling more than 45 minutes to work were all located in the region. Statewide about one in every nine workers (11 percent) spent at least 45 minutes commuting to work. In central Minnesota one in every five workers (20.1 percent) spent the equivalent of nearly 10 work weeks (almost 400 hours) commuting each year.

In Kanabec County, which has the second-longest mean travel times to work in the state, nearly one in five workers (19.8 percent) commuted 60 minutes or more each way. At more than two hours of travel each day, these workers spend more than 13 work weeks each year making their way to and from home. What’s more, 8 percent of Kanabec County workers commuted 90 minutes or more each way —  well over 19.5 work weeks each year —  to and from work.

The Short of It

In that context, it might seem strange that workers in central Minnesota also had shorter commute times than other parts of the state and nation. In 2009, 35.3 percent of local workers spent fewer than 15 minutes each way to work, compared with 33.7 percent in Minnesota and 28.8 percent in the United States.

The percentage of workers with these short commutes, however, has declined rapidly over the last 20 years. In 1990 nearly half (45.2 percent) of the workers in the region spent fewer than 15 minutes on the way to or from work. That shrank 10 percent over the next two decades because of the population growth detailed above in the counties closest to the Twin Cities metro area (see Figure 1).

While the number of workers with commutes of 15 minutes or less rose by about 20,000 people from 1990 to 2009 — a 20.5 percent increase — the number of workers driving 45 minutes or more jumped by about 35,000, representing a 118.3 percent increase. In other words, the number of workers with long commutes was increasing about six times as fast as workers with short commutes.

In the counties that are least connected to the Twin Cities labor market, more than half of the workers commuted fewer than 15 minutes each way. In Kandiyohi County, which had the shortest mean travel time in the region at 17 minutes, well over half (53 percent) of workers had these short commutes. Likewise, just over half the workers in McLeod County (51.7 percent) and Renville County (50.9 percent) spent less than 15 minutes each way.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

Before the sun rises each morning, many commuters in central Minnesota are already on their way to work. In seven counties within the region more than 20 percent of workers leave for work before 6 a.m. and another 20 percent leave between 6 and 7 a.m. In the entire 13-county region about 18 percent of workers are on the road before 6 a.m., compared with 12.1 percent of workers in Minnesota and 12.5 percent in the United States.

In most of the country the largest portion of the workforce leaves for work sometime between 6 and 7:59 a.m., presumably to get to work by 8 a.m. But the details can vary greatly by county, depending on commuting patterns. In both Kandiyohi and Chisago counties about two-thirds of workers left for work before 8 a.m. But in Kandiyohi County, which had short commute times, nearly 36 percent left between 7 and 7:59 a.m., while just 11.3 percent left before 6 a.m. In Chisago County, almost equal numbers of workers left before 6 a.m., between 6 and 7 a.m., and between 7 and 8 a.m.

More than 15 percent of workers in the region also left for work in the afternoon, with the highest percentages in Kanabec County, where nearly 20 percent of workers commuted after 12 p.m., and Benton and Stearns counties, which make up the St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Living and Working

The reason for all the commuting is the mismatch between where people live and where they work. In central Minnesota just 55 percent of workers both lived and worked in the same county, compared with 64 percent in the state and 72.6 percent in the nation.

In Sherburne County just 30.7 percent of working residents both lived and worked in their home county, versus 68.5 percent who worked outside their county of residence. Benton, Isanti, Chisago, and Wright also had huge outflows of workers to surrounding labor markets. In contrast, Kandiyohi, Stearns, and McLeod held on to their workers and tended to draw in workers from surrounding counties (see Table 2).

Because of the willingness of residents to travel to work, commuting patterns will continue to be important to the growing and changing labor markets of central Minnesota.

Table 2

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