Lakeville Sees Big Loss in Workers During the Day

Written by James Warden.

Lakeville sees a population exodus during the workday as residents commute to jobs in communities around the metro, according to recently released Census data.

The city's daytime population drops by about 27 percent, based on estimates from the 2006-2010 American Community Survey. In all, the city’s population falls by 14,556 people—from a resident population of 53,984 to a population of 39,428 during the workday.

These figures compare to most southeast metro cities—Burnsville, Apple Valley and Rosemount all saw a net outflow of residents during the workday. Eagan's daytime population, on the other hand, rises by 25 percent as commuters swarm the city.

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.