Cadillac Public Library · Photo: Andrew Jameson · CC BY-SA 3.0A job hub: Cadillac has 1.9 jobs per working resident, and 5,503 people come in to work
Measured by household income, Cadillac is behind 86% of U.S. towns. Employers in Cadillac report 6,892 jobs; 3,567 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Cadillac are D for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Cadillac and work: the main findings
Commutes from Cadillac are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan worker, and quicker than any town next door (20 to 27 minutes). Time on the road ↓
Cadillac is where the jobs are
Cadillac has 6,892 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Cadillac makes and builds things
41% of the jobs based in Cadillac are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Cadillac residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 30%. 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.
Inside Cadillac’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cadillac is better than 14% of U.S. towns, #648 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Cadillac’s grade up (ahead of 33% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($51,773, U.S. $80,734).
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, poverty and unemployment, Cadillac could be anywhere from D to C.
About 14 minutes each way for Cadillac’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cadillac workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,945 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.
The daily flow of workers through Cadillac
On a workday 2,178 residents head out to work and 1,389 work right here.
About 14,000 people are in Cadillac on a workday afternoon, 32% 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.
Goods jobs make up 41% of work in Cadillac
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cadillac, 2011 → 2021: 7,566 → 6,892. 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 Cadillac’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who travels to work in Cadillac, and from where
Where Cadillac clocks in
5% 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 far Cadillac’s workers travel
About 21% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Cadillac
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cadillac is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #62 of 701 in Michigan. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 7.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,352 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). 9.9% of Cadillac households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Cadillac’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Cadillac sits among U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Grosse Pointe Farms MI | 9,735 | $161K | 2.5% | 1.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Jamestown Township MI | 10,702 | $120K | 2.8% | 1.1% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,623 | Fort Madison IA | 9,935 | $51K | 15.0% | 7.3% | 37% | D |
| 2,624 | Little Falls MN | 9,277 | $48K | 18.7% | 6.1% | 36% | D |
| 2,625 | Cadillac MI | 10,438 | $52K | 18.2% | 5.9% | 39% | D |
| 2,626 | Hartsville SC | 7,374 | $49K | 19.6% | 7.2% | 27% | D |
| 2,627 | Washington Township IN | 10,430 | $59K | 19.4% | 6.0% | 28% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | 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 Cadillac, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Next door is work for 16% of Cadillac
The biggest share goes to Haring Township (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cadillac workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cadillac | – | D | A− | 14 min | $51,773 |
| Haring Township | 9% | B− | C | 25 min | $74,563 |
| Clam Lake Township | 3% | B− | C | 20 min | $86,429 |
| Cherry Grove Township | 4% | B+ | D | 27 min | $97,177 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cadillac’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 Cadillac: questions
What is the median household income in Cadillac?
$51,773 (±$3,850) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cadillac?
18.2%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cadillac?
14 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cadillac work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Haring Township (9%, 4 mi), Traverse City (5%, 36 mi), Cherry Grove Township (4%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Cadillac walkable?
Cadillac is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cadillac without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cadillac, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cadillac
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.