A job hub: Birch Run has 3.4 jobs per working resident, and 1,745 people come in to work
Working from home is the commute for 5% of workers, against 14% across Michigan. There are 1,781 jobs in Birch Run, and 527 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Birch Run are C+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Birch Run
Birch Run has far more jobs than workers
Birch Run has 1,781 jobs, 3.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,800 people are in town, 81% more than the 1,500 who live here. Day and night ↓
Many jobs in Birch Run pay little
43% of the jobs based in Birch Run pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 47% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Birch Run
54% of Birch Run residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 23% of the jobs based in Birch Run pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 93% leave town for their job. 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 527 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Birch Run gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Birch Run is better than 44% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Birch Run’s grade up (ahead of 61% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (4.4%) is left out: Birch Run’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
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 and poverty, Birch Run could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Who works in Birch Run, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 491 residents head out to work and 36 work right here.
About 2,800 people are in Birch Run on a workday afternoon, 81% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2021, primary jobs.
What Birch Run’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Birch Run, 2011 → 2021: 2,275 → 1,781. 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 Birch Run’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Birch Run’s workforce comes from
Where Birch Run clocks in
13% of workers
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.
About 26 minutes to work from Birch Run
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Birch Run workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 636 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 in the region Birch Run works
About 24% 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.
Driving is how Birch Run gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Birch Run is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Birch Run 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 669 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). 5.1% of Birch Run households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Birch Run’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Birch Run is 2,487th among 5,794 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 164 | Dimondale MI | 1,183 | $111K | 3.2% | 4.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 204 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,485 | Norway Township MI | 1,524 | $91K | 9.0% | 1.2% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,486 | Ogden IA | 1,975 | $70K | 9.3% | 2.6% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,487 | Birch Run MI | 1,540 | $71K | 13.5% | 4.4% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,488 | Gordonsville TN | 1,464 | $58K | 5.8% | 0.7% | 9% | C+ |
| 2,489 | Good Hope Township OH | 1,313 | $81K | 10.6% | 9.8% | 4% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | 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 Birch Run, 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 Birch Run: questions
What is the median household income in Birch Run?
$70,521 (±$20,149) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Birch Run?
13.5%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Birch Run?
26 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Birch Run work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Frankenmuth (13%, 6 mi), Birch Run Township (9%, 2 mi), Saginaw (8%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Birch Run walkable?
Birch Run is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Birch Run without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Birch Run, from the people who make the trip.
More of Birch Run
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.