Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Crystal Falls trail those of 73% of U.S. towns
The trip to work takes 17 minutes on average, next to 24 for Michigan and 26 for the U.S. Poverty touches 21.0% of residents, where Michigan as a whole has 13.2%. Crystal Falls grades D 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
Where Crystal Falls stands out on work
Crystal Falls and Crystal Falls Township trade workers both ways
Crystal Falls Township is the top workplace for Crystal Falls residents (15%) and also where the most people who work in Crystal Falls come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Crystal Falls are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan worker. Time on the road ↓
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 562 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Crystal Falls gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Crystal Falls is better than 6% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Crystal Falls’ grade up ($60,865, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (5.8%) is left out: Crystal Falls’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, Crystal Falls could be anywhere from D− to C−.
15% of working residents work in Crystal Falls Township
Where Crystal Falls clocks in
15% of workers
11% of workers
11% 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.
Getting to work from Crystal Falls takes about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Crystal Falls workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 618 commuters (the 8% 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.
Who leaves Crystal Falls for work, and who comes in
On a workday 477 residents head out to work, 85 work right here, and 555 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 (1.14 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.
What Crystal Falls’ employers do
640 jobs are based in Crystal Falls.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Crystal Falls, 2011 → 2021: 718 → 640. 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 Crystal Falls’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Crystal Falls to work
About 24% 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 Crystal Falls, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Crystal Falls is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Crystal Falls 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 672 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). 7.2% of Crystal Falls households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Crystal Falls’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Crystal Falls is 5,501st of 6,161 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 174 | Dimondale MI | 1,183 | $111K | 3.2% | 4.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 216 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,499 | Trion GA | 1,972 | $49K | 26.5% | 2.6% | 5% | D |
| 5,500 | Urania LA | 1,155 | $47K | 15.4% | 6.0% | 2% | D |
| 5,501 | Crystal Falls MI | 1,607 | $61K | 21.0% | 5.8% | 15% | D |
| 5,502 | Dobson NC | 1,474 | $44K | 22.4% | 4.9% | 17% | D |
| 5,503 | Spring City TN | 1,989 | $39K | 18.3% | 9.1% | 7% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | 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 Crystal Falls, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
The towns next door employ 15% of Crystal Falls
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Crystal Falls workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crystal Falls | – | D | B+ | 17 min | $60,865 |
| Crystal Falls Township | 15% | D | C | 28 min | $57,986 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Crystal Falls Township. Darker towns draw more of Crystal Falls’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 Crystal Falls: questions
What is the median household income in Crystal Falls?
$60,865 (±$10,460) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Crystal Falls?
21.0%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Crystal Falls?
17 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Crystal Falls work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Crystal Falls Township (15%, 11 mi), Iron River (11%, 15 mi), Iron Mountain (11%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Crystal Falls walkable?
Crystal Falls is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Crystal Falls without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Crystal Falls, from the people who make the trip.
More of Crystal Falls
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.