Photo: Gpwitteveen · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Caledonia (0.5%) is lower than in 97% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Caledonia is ahead of 81% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Caledonia is better than 98% of U.S. towns (A+); for walkability it is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (C−). Only 2% work in Caledonia itself; outside it, Grand Rapids draws the most (19%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Caledonia: the figures worth knowing
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Caledonia
Unemployment is its strongest input; household income ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns ($106,250, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
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, Caledonia could be anywhere from A to A+.
What the 927 jobs in Caledonia are
927 jobs are based in Caledonia.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Caledonia, 2011 → 2021: 918 → 927. 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 Caledonia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Caledonia
On a workday 723 residents head out to work, 18 work right here, and 909 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Caledonia on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.25 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.
The places Caledonia commutes to
Where Caledonia clocks in
11% of workers
10% 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.
Each way, about 22 minutes from Caledonia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Caledonia workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 848 commuters (the 15% 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 distance from Caledonia to work
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.
For most of Caledonia, work means a drive
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 3.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 993 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 3.7% of Caledonia households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Caledonia’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400, Caledonia ranks 104th of 6,085 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | McMillin WA | 1,348 | $141K | 2.3% | 4.0% | 1% | A+ |
| 103 | Atlantis FL | 2,140 | $117K | 3.6% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| 104 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| 105 | Cross Plains WI | 1,453 | $162K | 2.8% | 1.9% | 1% | A+ |
| 106 | Coldstream KY | 1,325 | $109K | 2.8% | 0.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 218 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 263 | Sylvan Lake MI | 1,685 | $106K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 303 | Pinckney MI | 2,333 | $97K | 4.5% | 1.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | 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 Caledonia, 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 Caledonia: questions
What is the median household income in Caledonia?
$106,250 (±$19,220) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Caledonia?
3.7%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Caledonia?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Caledonia work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grand Rapids (19%, 14 mi), Kentwood (11%, 7 mi), Caledonia Township (10%, 1 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Caledonia walkable?
Caledonia is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 3.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Caledonia without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Caledonia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Caledonia
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.