Eden Prairie Sees Big Gain in Workers During the Day

Eden Prairie’s office complexes, retail establishments and other workplaces have made the community a draw for workers, according to recently released Census data.

About 24 percent more workers come into the city than live here, based on estimates from the 2006-2010 American Community Survey. In all, commuters increase the city’s population by 16,467 people—from a resident population of 59,219 to a population of 75,686 during the workday.

Southwest metro cities all showed strong results in the survey—with some even exceeding Eden Prairie’s already impressive results. Bloomington showed an 85 percent increase, and Edina had a 91 percent increase.

The situation is less rosy for Lake Minnetonka communities, the north metro and cities south of Eden Prairie and Bloomington. Shakopee and Chaska both see declines during the workday.

Use the map above to compare how Minnesota cities fared. The map is colored according to each city’s “employment-residence ratio”—which compares the number of workers in a community to the number of workers who live there.

Ratios greater than 1.0 mean more people work in a community than it has workers living there. A community with a ranking of 1.19, for example, would have 19 percent more workers working there. By contrast, communities with ratios less than 1.0 send more residents to other communities to work than they receive.

The colors mean:

• Red: .23 to .5
• Yellow: .5 to 1
• Blue: 1 to 1.5
• Green: 1.5 to 5

The map only includes communities with either 2,500 workers living there or 2,500 workers who go there to work.