Island City Historic District · Photo: Catherine Ottarson · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Eaton Rapids (1.6%) is lower than in 89% of U.S. towns
A typical one-way commute lasts 28 minutes (Michigan 24, U.S. 26). For jobs and income Eaton Rapids is better than 55% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (B−). About one in ten work in Eaton Rapids; the top destination outside it is Lansing (20%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Eaton Rapids apart on work
Why Eaton Rapids gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Unemployment holds Eaton Rapids’ grade up; household income pulls it down ($63,875, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on 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, Eaton Rapids could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
43% of the jobs in Eaton Rapids make or build things
1,708 jobs are based in Eaton Rapids.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Eaton Rapids, 2011 → 2021: 1,852 → 1,708. 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 Eaton Rapids’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Eaton Rapids
On a workday 1,847 residents head out to work, 251 work right here, and 1,457 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 (0.81 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.
Where people from Eaton Rapids work
Where Eaton Rapids clocks in
20% 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.
Eaton Rapids’ commute takes about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Eaton Rapids workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,152 commuters (the 13% 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.
Miles to work from Eaton Rapids
About 20% 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.
For most of Eaton Rapids, work means a drive
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,486 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). 7.8% of Eaton Rapids households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Eaton Rapids’ commuters take a bus or train.
Eaton Rapids is 1,733rd of 3,524 U.S. towns of 3,700 to 7,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | Northville MI | 6,013 | $146K | 2.8% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 127 | Vergennes Township MI | 4,968 | $113K | 1.5% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,731 | Casco ME | 3,779 | $69K | 11.0% | 1.5% | 8% | B− |
| 1,732 | Antis Township PA | 6,340 | $72K | 11.1% | 2.8% | 10% | B− |
| 1,733 | Eaton Rapids MI | 5,218 | $64K | 13.5% | 1.6% | 12% | B− |
| 1,734 | Jefferson Township OH | 5,246 | $57K | 7.2% | 2.0% | 19% | B− |
| 1,735 | Hazel Green AL | 3,940 | $86K | 10.4% | 4.7% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,524 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Eaton Rapids, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Around Eaton Rapids: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Eaton Rapids workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eaton Rapids | – | B− | B− | 28 min | $63,875 |
| Hamlin Township | under 2% | B | C | 26 min | $91,944 |
| Eaton Rapids Township | under 2% | A− | D | 25 min | $82,906 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Eaton Rapids’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 Eaton Rapids: questions
What is the median household income in Eaton Rapids?
$63,875 (±$3,629) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Eaton Rapids?
13.5%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Eaton Rapids?
28 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Eaton Rapids work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lansing (20%, 15 mi), Charlotte (6%, 10 mi), Delta Township (5%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Eaton Rapids walkable?
Eaton Rapids is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Eaton Rapids without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Eaton Rapids, from the people who make the trip.
More of Eaton Rapids
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.