Breckenridge has lower household incomes than 78% of U.S. towns
For 5% of workers, the job is at home, against 14% across Michigan. 18.0% of residents live below the poverty line, against 13.2% across Michigan. The two grades for Breckenridge 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 sets Breckenridge apart on work
Income, poverty and work: Breckenridge’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Breckenridge is better than 18% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Breckenridge’s grade up (ahead of 38% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (7.5%) is left out: Breckenridge’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, Breckenridge could be anywhere from D to C.
67% of the jobs in Breckenridge pay over $3,333 a month
548 jobs are based in Breckenridge.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Breckenridge, 2011 → 2021: 720 → 548. 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 Breckenridge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Breckenridge: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 459 residents head out to work, 42 work right here, and 506 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 (1.09 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.
12% of working residents work in Wheeler Township
Where Breckenridge clocks in
9% 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.
A commute of about 27 minutes in Breckenridge
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Breckenridge workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 612 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 Breckenridge works
About 22% 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.
Getting around Breckenridge: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Breckenridge is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 6.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 646 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). 3.7% of Breckenridge households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Breckenridge’s commuters take a bus or train.
Breckenridge is 3,481st of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 124 | Dimondale MI | 1,183 | $111K | 3.2% | 4.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 151 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 175 | Sylvan Lake MI | 1,685 | $106K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,479 | New Pekin IN | 1,378 | $51K | 19.5% | 1.7% | <1% | C− |
| 3,480 | Arma KS | 1,398 | $51K | 12.4% | 10.0% | 6% | C− |
| 3,481 | Breckenridge MI | 1,265 | $58K | 18.0% | 7.5% | 8% | C− |
| 3,482 | Thompson Falls MT | 1,543 | $46K | 6.5% | 0.0% | 25% | C− |
| 3,483 | Spring Hope NC | 1,383 | $38K | 11.1% | 2.3% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Breckenridge, 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 Breckenridge: questions
What is the median household income in Breckenridge?
$57,540 (±$4,618) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Breckenridge?
18.0%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Breckenridge?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Breckenridge work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wheeler Township (12%, 3 mi), Alma (9%, 9 mi), Midland (8%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Breckenridge walkable?
Breckenridge is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Breckenridge without a car?
0% 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 Breckenridge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Breckenridge
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.