Minnetonka Sees Big Gain in Workers During the Day

Minnetonka’s office complexes, retail establishments and other workplaces cause the number of workers to surge during the day, according to recently released Census data.

About 67 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 17,942 people—from a resident population of 49,567 to a population of 67,509 during the workday.

While Minnetonka showed a big increase, it marked the western edge of an area dominated by cities that bring in more workers than they have living there. By contrast, Lake Minnetonka communities all lose workers during the day. Excelsior and Mound, for example, both have about a third as many people working there as they have workers living there.

The north metro and cities south of Eden Prairie and Bloomington see a similar pattern.

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.