Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Cassopolis are lower than in 96% of U.S. towns
About one in ten work in Cassopolis itself; outside it, LaGrange Township draws the most (10%, 2 miles). 20.5% of residents are in poverty, next to 13.2% for Michigan as a whole. For jobs and income Cassopolis is better than 14% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Cassopolis and work: the main findings
Many Cassopolis workers cross into Indiana
43% of Cassopolis workers work outside Michigan, the Census survey finds. In the commute data, Elkhart (10%), South Bend (5%) and Mishawaka (4%) are among the top workplaces. The commute map ↓
Cassopolis is where the jobs are
Cassopolis has 1,004 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
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 599 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Cassopolis
Job access by car holds Cassopolis’ grade up (ahead of 53% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($40,781, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (7.3%) is left out: Cassopolis’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, Cassopolis could be anywhere from D to C−.
The towns that send workers to Cassopolis
Where Cassopolis clocks in
10% of workers
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.
Who commutes out of Cassopolis, and who commutes in
On a workday 549 residents head out to work, 50 work right here, and 954 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Cassopolis on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
1.7 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.
A place that makes things: 34% of Cassopolis’ jobs are in goods
1,004 jobs are based in Cassopolis.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cassopolis, 2011 → 2021: 861 → 1,004. 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 Cassopolis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Cassopolis: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cassopolis workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 675 commuters (the 7% 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 Cassopolis 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Cassopolis
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 17.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 8.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 728 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). 13.7% of Cassopolis households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Cassopolis’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Cassopolis is 4,489th of 5,760 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 206 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 249 | Sylvan Lake MI | 1,685 | $106K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,487 | Carlisle KY | 2,122 | $49K | 14.8% | 3.0% | 11% | D |
| 4,488 | Homer MI | 1,603 | $55K | 18.7% | 5.9% | 14% | D |
| 4,489 | Cassopolis MI | 1,707 | $41K | 20.5% | 7.3% | 8% | D |
| 4,490 | Goodman MO | 1,320 | $54K | 16.5% | 3.7% | 2% | D |
| 4,491 | Reading Township IL | 2,049 | $54K | 16.6% | 2.3% | 13% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | 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 Cassopolis, 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 Cassopolis: questions
What is the median household income in Cassopolis?
$40,781 (±$9,392) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cassopolis?
20.5%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cassopolis?
28 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cassopolis work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are LaGrange Township (10%, 2 mi), Elkhart (10%, 15 mi), Dowagiac (6%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Cassopolis walkable?
Cassopolis is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 17% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cassopolis without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cassopolis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cassopolis
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.