Photo: brewbooks · CC BY-SA 2.042% of Big Rapids’ residents are college students
Big Rapids grades C− for jobs and income and A for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.3 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 7.2 in Detroit. About one in four work in Big Rapids itself; outside it, Grand Rapids draws the most (7%, 52 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Big Rapids
Big Rapids is where the jobs are
Big Rapids has 5,742 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Big Rapids are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan worker. Time on the road ↓
A young workforce
34% of Big Rapids’ working residents are 29 or younger, about one in three. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Big Rapids workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Big Rapids’ working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 23% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Big Rapids draws workers from far and wide
The 5,742 jobs in Big Rapids are filled from a wide area. Big Rapids’ own residents hold 12% and the ten next-biggest home towns 27%; the other 61% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
The figures behind Big Rapids’ Jobs & income grade
On family income, poverty and job access, Big Rapids is better than 16% of U.S. towns, #633 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Big Rapids’ grade up (ahead of 34% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (23.2%, U.S. 11.9%).
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (26% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 23.2%, against 34.1% for all residents. Unemployment (4.3%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($79,450), since student households pull the household median down ($43,858).
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, Big Rapids could be anywhere from D to C+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Big Rapids
On a workday 1,852 residents head out to work, 717 work right here, and 5,025 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Big Rapids on a workday afternoon, 37% more than live here.
2.2 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.
About 15 minutes each way, quicker than most of Michigan
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Big Rapids workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,974 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.
What the 5,742 jobs in Big Rapids are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Big Rapids, 2011 → 2021: 7,381 → 5,742. 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 Big Rapids’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that send workers to Big Rapids
Where Big Rapids clocks in
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.
Miles to work from Big Rapids
About 37% 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.
Big Rapids is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Big Rapids is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns, #8 of 701 in Michigan. Both inputs place Big Rapids 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 4,366 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 49% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 47% 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). 15.0% of Big Rapids households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Big Rapids’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 6,000 to 11,600, Big Rapids ranks 2,631st of 2,944 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Grosse Pointe Farms MI | 9,735 | $161K | 2.5% | 1.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,629 | Center Township IN | 8,149 | $51K | 15.9% | 6.0% | 23% | C− |
| 2,630 | Notre Dame IN | 6,890 | $20K | 49.2% | 2.6% | 7% | C− |
| 2,631 | Big Rapids MI | 8,623 | $44K | 34.1% | 4.3% | 28% | C− |
| 2,632 | Española NM | 10,458 | $48K | 20.4% | 4.4% | 18% | C− |
| 2,633 | Mims FL | 7,610 | $59K | 11.4% | 7.3% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,944 | 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 Big Rapids, 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.
- Students. 42% 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 Big Rapids: questions
What is the median household income in Big Rapids?
$43,858 (±$4,640) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Big Rapids?
34.1% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 23.2%. Michigan: 13.2%.
How long is the commute from Big Rapids?
15 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Big Rapids work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grand Rapids (7%, 52 mi), Big Rapids Township (6%, 2 mi), Reed City (3%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Big Rapids walkable?
Big Rapids is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.9 out of 20, and 16% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Big Rapids without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Big Rapids, from the people who make the trip.
More of Big Rapids
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.