Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY 3.0Household incomes in Bessemer are lower than in 83% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 12.9% of residents (Michigan 13.2%). The two grades for Bessemer are C− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in five work in Bessemer itself; outside it, Ironwood draws the most (20%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Bessemer
Bessemer and Ironwood trade workers both ways
Ironwood is the top workplace for Bessemer residents (20%) and also where the most people who work in Bessemer come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Bessemer residents work close to home
67% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Bessemer workers earn over $40,000 a year
40% of Bessemer’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% 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; with 751 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Bessemer
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bessemer is better than 15% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Bessemer’s grade up (4.9%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns).
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 rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bessemer could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Where Bessemer’s working residents head each day
Where Bessemer clocks in
20% of workers
6% 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.
How many miles Bessemer commutes
About 23% 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.
Inside Bessemer’s 757 jobs
757 jobs are based in Bessemer.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bessemer, 2011 → 2021: 930 → 757. 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 Bessemer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Bessemer by day and by night
On a workday 582 residents head out to work, 169 work right here, and 588 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.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.01 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2021, primary jobs.
How long Bessemer spends getting to work: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bessemer workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 840 commuters (the 13% 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.
In Bessemer, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bessemer is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 7.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 961 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). 3.6% of Bessemer households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Bessemer’s commuters take a bus or train.
4,113th of 5,343: where Bessemer ranks among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 203 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 244 | Sylvan Lake MI | 1,685 | $106K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,111 | Golden Shores AZ | 1,555 | $44K | 6.9% | 0.0% | 3% | C− |
| 4,112 | Olive Hill KY | 1,536 | $71K | 19.8% | 0.7% | 11% | C− |
| 4,113 | Bessemer MI | 1,787 | $54K | 12.9% | 4.9% | 23% | C− |
| 4,114 | Spencerville OH | 2,165 | $55K | 15.1% | 8.3% | 6% | C− |
| 4,115 | Appleton ME | 1,469 | $54K | 9.7% | 1.8% | 6% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Bessemer, 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 Bessemer: questions
What is the median household income in Bessemer?
$53,523 (±$12,307) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bessemer?
12.9%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bessemer?
16 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bessemer work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ironwood (20%, 5 mi), Ironwood Township (6%, 8 mi), Wakefield (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Bessemer walkable?
Bessemer is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bessemer without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bessemer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bessemer
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.