Brainerd Lakes Tech Growth Dashboard

Wages, commuting, and local opportunity • Crow Wing County (preferred civic geography)

Geography
Wage mode
Median = typical worker; Mean = pulled up by high earners
Dataset notes
Wages: BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2024 reference period (released April 2025).
Commuting: use ACS county-to-county flows OR LEHD LODES/OnTheMap for origin-destination patterns.
Tech = Computer & Mathematical + related engineering groups (adjustable).

Top 10 Income-Driving Sectors

Why this matters

Brainerd’s biggest income-driving sectors include Health Care & Social Assistance, Retail Trade, Construction. Expanding tech jobs—especially IT roles inside non-tech employers—can diversify the local economy, support higher wages, and strengthen year-round stability alongside tourism.

Tech-related share:3.9%(Information + Professional/Technical)

Labor Income ($M)

Employment Share (%)

Pay comparison by occupational group (median)

Wages (tech highlighted)

Blue = tech-related groups • Gray = other groups

Reference: BLS OEWS (annual).

Tech Activity in the Brainerd Lakes Area

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Commuting & “leakage”

Tech commuters vs local tech workers

Residents working locally vs commuting out vs remote out-of-area.

Commuting sources: ACS County-to-County Commuting Flows (ACS 5-year) or LEHD LODES / OnTheMap flows.

Estimated annual cost to residents

Assumptions for Crow Wing County: 180 commuters, ~44 miles round-trip, ~62 minutes round-trip, 230 workdays/year.

Mileage cost (IRS 2026 rate)
$1,320,660
72.5¢/mile (business standard mileage rate).
Time cost (value of time)
$1,069,500
Uses $25/hour to represent time burden (editable).
Childcare / scheduling add-on
$0
Currently set to $0/day (set > 0 to model “time poverty”).
Total estimated annual burden
$2,390,160
Planning estimate; update counts + assumptions as you refine commuting data.

This dashboard mixes published datasets (BLS OEWS, Census LEHD) with modeled estimates (commuting costs). Modeled values are labeled and based on transparent assumptions.

Sources & Methodology

Selected geography: Crow Wing County (preferred civic geography)

Wage data: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), released annually. This dashboard is currently showing median annual wages by occupational group.

Commuting flows: Recommended sources are the Census “County-to-County Commuting Flows” (ACS 5-year) or LEHD LODES / OnTheMap flows (better for mapping and origin–destination visualization).

Map basemap: OpenStreetMap.

Dataset notes
  • Wages: BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2024 reference period (released April 2025).
  • Commuting: use ACS county-to-county flows OR LEHD LODES/OnTheMap for origin-destination patterns.
  • Tech = Computer & Mathematical + related engineering groups (adjustable).
Tip: When you finalize your preferred geography + table extracts, you can replace assumptions with sourced counts for commuters and remote workers.