Photo: Chris Rycroft from Madison, Wisconsin, United States · CC BY 2.0Households in Alpena earn less than those in 90% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Alpena are D for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 21.2% of residents are in poverty, next to 13.2% for Michigan as a whole. For 5% of workers, the job is at home (Michigan 14%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Alpena apart on work
Commutes from Alpena are quick
The average trip to work takes 11 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 100 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan worker. Time on the road ↓
Alpena and Alpena Township trade workers both ways
Alpena Township is the top workplace for Alpena residents (21%) and also where the most people who work in Alpena come from (20% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Alpena is where the jobs are
Alpena has 5,969 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Most Alpena residents work close to home
61% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Alpena workers earn over $40,000 a year
43% of Alpena’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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.
Why Alpena gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Alpena is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #679 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Alpena’s grade up (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($47,545, U.S. $80,734).
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 income, poverty and unemployment, Alpena could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Time on the road from Alpena: about 11 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alpena workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,255 commuters (the 5% 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.
Where the people who work in Alpena live
Where Alpena clocks in
21% of workers
1% of workersLines 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.
Who commutes out of Alpena, and who commutes in
On a workday 2,275 residents head out to work, 1,426 work right here, and 4,543 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Alpena on a workday afternoon, 22% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
The commute from Alpena, by distance
About 35% 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.
Jobs in Alpena: what the 5,969 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alpena, 2011 → 2021: 5,507 → 5,969. 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 Alpena’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Alpena is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Alpena is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #56 of 701 in Michigan. Both inputs place Alpena near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,497 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 11.9% of Alpena households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Alpena’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000, and where Alpena sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Grosse Pointe Farms MI | 9,735 | $161K | 2.5% | 1.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Jamestown Township MI | 10,702 | $120K | 2.8% | 1.1% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,752 | Camden AR | 10,127 | $49K | 20.5% | 6.8% | 32% | D |
| 2,753 | Lindsay CA | 12,578 | $53K | 33.1% | 17.8% | 15% | D |
| 2,754 | Alpena MI | 10,088 | $48K | 21.2% | 6.4% | 39% | D |
| 2,755 | Las Vegas NM | 12,574 | $45K | 32.0% | 4.8% | 46% | D |
| 2,756 | Coshocton OH | 11,169 | $49K | 25.9% | 7.4% | 31% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Alpena, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Alpena: questions
What is the median household income in Alpena?
$47,545 (±$3,647) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alpena?
21.2%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alpena?
11 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alpena work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Alpena Township (21%, 3 mi), Lansing (1%, 172 mi), Gaylord (1%, 61 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Alpena walkable?
Alpena is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alpena without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alpena, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alpena
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.