Work, pay and getting to work in Elk Rapids
About one in seven stay in Elk Rapids for work; outside it, Traverse City is the main destination (23%, 14 miles). Elk Rapids grades B− for jobs and income and A for walkability. The average commute takes 18 minutes each way, where Michigan has 24 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Elk Rapids, in brief
Elk Rapids is where the jobs are
Elk Rapids has 880 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Elk Rapids makes and builds things
39% of the jobs based in Elk Rapids are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Elk Rapids residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 19%. The jobs ↓
Elk Rapids’ workforce skews older
38% of Elk Rapids’ working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
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 533 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Elk Rapids’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Elk Rapids is better than 52% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Elk Rapids’ grade up (3.7%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 22% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.3%) is left out: Elk Rapids’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, Elk Rapids could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Who leaves Elk Rapids for work, and who comes in
On a workday 447 residents head out to work, 86 work right here, and 794 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Elk Rapids on a workday afternoon, 22% 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.
Goods, not services: 39% of the jobs in Elk Rapids
880 jobs are based in Elk Rapids.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elk Rapids, 2011 → 2021: 745 → 880. 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 Elk Rapids’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where the people who work in Elk Rapids live
Where Elk Rapids clocks in
23% of workers
4% 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.
Time on the road from Elk Rapids: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elk Rapids workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 715 commuters (the 12% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Elk Rapids
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 Elk Rapids, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Elk Rapids is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 8.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 808 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). 1.3% of Elk Rapids households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Elk Rapids’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Elk Rapids is 2,134th 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 2,132 | Thurston NY | 1,228 | $73K | 3.4% | 3.6% | 1% | B− |
| 2,133 | Lake Waynoka OH | 1,266 | $82K | 4.2% | 5.6% | 1% | B− |
| 2,134 | Elk Rapids MI | 1,610 | $71K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 16% | B− |
| 2,135 | Concord Township IN | 1,410 | $65K | 7.3% | 8.0% | 2% | B− |
| 2,136 | Cormorant Township MN | 1,405 | $103K | 6.9% | 0.7% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Elk Rapids, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Bordering towns draw 18% of Elk Rapids’ workers
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Elk Rapids workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elk Rapids | – | B− | A | 18 min | $70,938 |
| Elk Rapids Township | 18% | A− | A− | 20 min | $82,933 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Elk Rapids Township. Darker towns draw more of Elk 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 Elk Rapids: questions
What is the median household income in Elk Rapids?
$70,938 (±$13,251) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elk Rapids?
3.7%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elk Rapids?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elk Rapids work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Traverse City (23%, 14 mi), Elk Rapids Township (18%, 0 mi), Garfield Township (4%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Elk Rapids walkable?
Elk Rapids is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elk Rapids without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Elk Rapids, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elk 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.