Household incomes in Coloma are lower than in 60% of U.S. towns
For 6% of workers, the job is at home, where Michigan as a whole has 14%. The poverty rate is 7.4%; Michigan has 13.2%. Jobs and income earn Coloma B; getting around on foot earns it B−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Coloma in brief
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Coloma
On income, poverty and job access, Coloma is better than 55% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Coloma’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($68,889, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (0.8%) is left out: Coloma’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, Coloma could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
35% of the jobs in Coloma make or build things
653 jobs are based in Coloma.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Coloma, 2011 → 2021: 245 → 653. 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 Coloma’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Coloma
On a workday 520 residents head out to work, 38 work right here, and 615 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 (1.17 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 Benton Township
Where Coloma clocks in
7% 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.
From Coloma, about 25 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Coloma workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 582 commuters (the 6% 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.
How far it is to work from Coloma
About 25% 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.
In Coloma, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Coloma is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Coloma 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 617 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). 2.9% of Coloma households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Coloma’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Coloma is 1,741st among 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 93 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 152 | Dimondale MI | 1,183 | $111K | 3.2% | 4.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 187 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,739 | New Paris IN | 1,549 | $75K | 10.5% | 0.0% | 7% | B |
| 1,740 | Midway KY | 1,787 | $62K | 8.2% | 8.8% | 10% | B |
| 1,741 | Coloma MI | 1,415 | $69K | 7.4% | 0.8% | 7% | B |
| 1,742 | Edisto Beach SC | 1,071 | $86K | 2.5% | 5.8% | 8% | B |
| 1,743 | Anderson Township IN | 1,227 | $92K | 6.2% | 3.3% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Coloma, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
The towns around Coloma
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Coloma workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coloma | – | B | B− | 25 min | $68,889 |
| Paw Paw Lake | under 3% | — | — | 31 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Paw Paw Lake: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Coloma’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 Coloma: questions
What is the median household income in Coloma?
$68,889 (±$11,631) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Coloma?
7.4%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Coloma?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Coloma work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Benton Township (12%, 7 mi), St. Joseph (7%, 11 mi), Grand Rapids (6%, 63 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Coloma walkable?
Coloma is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Coloma without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Coloma, from the people who make the trip.
More of Coloma
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.