Photo: Gpwitteveen · CC BY-SA 3.0Allendale Township is a college town: 35% of residents are students
Allendale Township grades A− for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in ten work in Allendale Township; the top destination outside it is Grand Rapids (15%, 15 miles). The average commute takes 22 minutes each way, where Michigan has 24 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Allendale Township stands out on work
Allendale Township and Grand Rapids trade workers both ways
Grand Rapids is the top workplace for Allendale Township residents (15%) and also where the most people who work in Allendale Township come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A young workforce
31% of Allendale Township’s working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2021, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; 2021 is the newest year Michigan has published.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Allendale Township
On family income, poverty and job access, Allendale Township is better than 76% of U.S. towns, #188 of 701 in Michigan. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Allendale Township’s grade. It also does well on family income and the poverty rate.
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (24% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 7.3%, against 21.4% for all residents. Unemployment (5.9%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($100,964), since student households pull the household median down ($81,683).
The commuting and job counts on this page are Census LEHD 2021: Michigan reports later than other states, so its newest year is two years behind.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Allendale Township could be anywhere from B− to A.
The towns that employ Allendale Township’s residents
Where Allendale Township clocks in
Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
What the 6,404 jobs in Allendale Township are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Allendale Township, 2011 → 2021: 5,958 → 6,404. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2021.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Allendale Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Allendale Township
On a workday 7,768 residents head out to work, 971 work right here, and 5,433 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
0.73 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2021, primary jobs.
Time on the road from Allendale Township: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Allendale Township workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,236 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across Michigan: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far it is to work from Allendale Township
About 16% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2021.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Allendale Township is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 14,614 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 63% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 8% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 47.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, among the most of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.5% of Allendale Township households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Allendale Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Allendale Township is 616th of 1,509 U.S. towns of 19,000 to 37,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Northville Township MI | 31,399 | $151K | 3.1% | 2.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Oakland Township MI | 20,631 | $167K | 2.7% | 3.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | Cascade Township MI | 20,201 | $136K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 614 | Maryland City MD | 19,186 | $117K | 8.9% | 5.5% | 3% | A− |
| 615 | Naugatuck CT | 32,230 | $96K | 6.3% | 5.1% | 9% | A− |
| 616 | Allendale Township MI | 27,519 | $82K | 21.4% | 5.9% | 11% | A− |
| 617 | Duarte CA | 22,866 | $105K | 8.4% | 5.6% | 8% | A− |
| 618 | Westmont IL | 24,155 | $88K | 9.8% | 4.0% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,509 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Allendale Township, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
How Allendale Township compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Georgetown Township (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Allendale Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allendale Township | – | A− | A | 22 min | $81,683 |
| Polkton Township | under 3% | A | D− | 24 min | $112,708 |
| Tallmadge Township | under 3% | A− | C− | 23 min | $100,721 |
| Lamont | under 3% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Robinson Township | under 3% | B+ | C | 22 min | $98,947 |
| Blendon Township | under 3% | A | C+ | 21 min | $95,288 |
| Georgetown Township | 4% | A− | B− | 22 min | $102,150 |
Same-state neighbors only. Lamont: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Allendale Township’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2021, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Students. 35% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Allendale Township: questions
What is the median household income in Allendale Township?
$81,683 (±$8,426) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Allendale Township?
21.4% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 7.3%. Michigan: 13.2%.
How long is the commute from Allendale Township?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Allendale Township work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grand Rapids (15%, 15 mi), Walker (5%, 10 mi), Wyoming (5%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Allendale Township walkable?
Allendale Township is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.8 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Allendale Township without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 8% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Allendale Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Allendale Township
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2021, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.