Jobs and earnings in Bear Lake, and the trip to work
Only 2% work in Bear Lake itself; outside it, Manistee Township draws the most (10%, 11 miles). For 0% of workers, the job is at home; Michigan has 14%. A typical one-way commute lasts 26 minutes, next to 24 for Michigan and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How a workday changes Bear Lake
On a workday 89 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 53 people come in from elsewhere.
About 290 people are in Bear Lake on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.60 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.
Out of Bear Lake to work: where people go
Where Bear Lake clocks in
10% of workers
7% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Bear Lake
55 jobs are based in Bear Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bear Lake, 2011 → 2021: 287 → 55. 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 Bear Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 26 minutes each way, about the MI average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bear Lake workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 139 commuters (the 0% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Bear Lake
About 19% 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.
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 Bear Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Bear Lake?
$63,281 (±$5,006) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bear Lake?
5.0%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bear Lake?
26 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bear Lake work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Manistee Township (10%, 11 mi), Frankfort (7%, 16 mi), Traverse City (7%, 35 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Can you get around Bear Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bear Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bear Lake
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.