Mary's City of David · Photo: FotoGuy 49057 · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in Benton Township trail those of 97% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 33.1%, against 13.2% across Michigan. Benton Township grades D for jobs and income and B− for walkability. About one in five stay in Benton Township for work; outside it, St. Joseph is the main destination (8%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Benton Township: the figures worth knowing
Benton Township makes and builds things
54% of the jobs based in Benton Township are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Benton Township residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 27%. The jobs ↓
Benton Township is the work center of its corner
Every town that borders Benton Township (Benton Harbor, Bainbridge Township, Royalton Township, Hagar Township and Sodus Township) has fewer jobs than working residents, while Benton Township has 1.9 per resident. Next door ↓
The jobs in Benton Township pay better than its residents’ jobs
63% of the jobs based in Benton Township pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 40% of the jobs Benton Township residents hold. 89% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Benton Township. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Benton Township are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan worker. Time on the road ↓
Benton Township has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Benton Township went from 6,720 in 2011 to 9,473 in 2021, +41%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Benton Township
Job access by car holds Benton Township’s grade up (ahead of 59% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
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 firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Benton Township stays D.
Factories, building and farms: 54% of the jobs in Benton Township
9,473 jobs are based in Benton Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Benton Township, 2011 → 2021: 6,720 → 9,473. 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 Benton Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Benton Township takes about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Benton Township workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,105 commuters (the 6% 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.
Who works in Benton Township, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 3,873 residents head out to work, 1,076 work right here, and 8,397 people come in from elsewhere.
About 19,000 people are in Benton Township on a workday afternoon, 32% more than live here.
1.9 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.
Where Benton Township’s workers come from
Where Benton Township clocks in
8% 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.
Where in the region Benton Township works
About 27% 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.
In Benton Township, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Benton Township is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns, #237 of 701 in Michigan. Both inputs place Benton Township 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 5,449 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). 17.2% of Benton Township households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Benton Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Benton Township compares with U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Southfield Township MI | 14,671 | $185K | 4.7% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,167 | Lehman Township PA | 11,366 | $67K | 17.7% | 9.3% | 6% | D |
| 2,168 | Opelousas LA | 15,098 | $33K | 37.4% | 11.9% | 25% | D |
| 2,169 | Benton Township MI | 14,228 | $39K | 33.1% | 12.1% | 22% | D |
| 2,170 | Susanville CA | 12,816 | $62K | 17.6% | 9.3% | 59% | D |
| 2,171 | McMinnville TN | 13,943 | $47K | 20.7% | 9.0% | 24% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Benton Township, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Benton Township and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Benton Harbor (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Benton Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benton Township | – | D | B− | 18 min | $38,688 |
| Benton Harbor | 3% | D | A− | 18 min | $31,117 |
| Bainbridge Township | under 2% | B | C− | 21 min | $74,574 |
| Royalton Township | 3% | A | C− | 17 min | $128,750 |
| Hagar Township | under 2% | B | C− | 28 min | $67,273 |
| Sodus Township | under 2% | B | B | 17 min | $78,402 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Benton 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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Benton Township: questions
What is the median household income in Benton Township?
$38,688 (±$3,707) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Benton Township?
33.1%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Benton Township?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Benton Township work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Joseph (8%, 5 mi), Lincoln Township (6%, 9 mi), Grand Rapids (5%, 70 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Benton Township walkable?
Benton Township is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Benton Township without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Benton Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Benton 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.