With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Essex Township works elsewhere
Only 6% work in Essex Township itself; outside it, Lansing draws the most (16%, 25 miles). There are 251 jobs in Essex Township, and 761 of its residents work somewhere. Jobs and income earn Essex Township C; getting around on foot earns it C+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Essex Township in brief
Income, poverty and work: Essex Township’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Essex Township is better than 26% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Essex Township’s grade up ($71,488, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.6%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (4.5%) is left out: Essex Township’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 three years behind.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Essex Township could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Where in the region Essex Township works
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.
The daily flow of workers through Essex Township
On a workday 718 residents head out to work, 43 work right here, and 208 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Essex Township on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2021, primary jobs.
The places Essex Township commutes to
Where Essex Township clocks in
16% of workers
13% 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.
Goods jobs make up 88% of work in Essex Township
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Essex Township, 2011 → 2021: 172 → 251. 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 Essex Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Essex Township’s commute takes about 27 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 Essex Township workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 753 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.
Most trips from Essex Township start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Essex Township is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 3.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 866 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). 4.1% of Essex Township households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Essex Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Essex Township is 3,679th among 5,656 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 212 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 255 | Sylvan Lake MI | 1,685 | $106K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,677 | Abbotsford WI | 2,413 | $69K | 9.5% | 9.3% | 28% | C |
| 3,678 | Selby Township IL | 2,101 | $67K | 12.5% | 6.2% | 1% | C |
| 3,679 | Essex Township MI | 1,847 | $71K | 16.6% | 4.5% | 6% | C |
| 3,680 | Lower Mifflin Township PA | 1,795 | $61K | 16.7% | 4.4% | 1% | C |
| 3,681 | Lewis Township PA | 1,461 | $64K | 10.4% | 2.6% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Essex Township, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Around Essex Township: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Lebanon Township (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Essex Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essex Township | – | C | C+ | 27 min | $71,488 |
| Greenbush Township | under 2% | C+ | C− | 30 min | $71,607 |
| Lebanon Township | 2% | — | — | 30 min | — |
| Bengal Township | under 2% | B+ | C | 24 min | $91,250 |
| Fulton Township | 2% | B− | D | 37 min | $84,934 |
Same-state neighbors only. Lebanon Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Essex Township’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 Essex Township: questions
What is the median household income in Essex Township?
$71,488 (±$5,099) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Essex Township?
16.6%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Essex Township?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Essex Township work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lansing (16%, 25 mi), St. Johns (13%, 7 mi), East Lansing (6%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Essex Township walkable?
Essex Township is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 3.2 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Essex Township without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Essex Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Essex Township
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.