Photo: Larry Pieniazek, Lar (commons) or Lar(en:wp) (primary) · CC BY 2.5Jobs and the daily commute in Forest Hills
Commuters spend 20 minutes getting to work on average, where Michigan has 24 and the U.S. 26. 22% of workers have no commute at all, against 14% across Michigan. About one in seven work in Forest Hills; the top destination outside it is Grand Rapids (25%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Forest Hills: the gist
Forest Hills and Grand Rapids trade workers both ways
Grand Rapids is the top workplace for Forest Hills residents (25%) and also where the most people who work in Forest Hills come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Home offices are common in Forest Hills
23% of Forest Hills workers work from home, against 14% across Michigan. 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.
The places Forest Hills commutes to
Where Forest Hills clocks in
11% of workers
9% 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 Forest Hills, about 20 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Forest Hills workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,448 commuters (the 22% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Forest Hills
On a workday 10,370 residents head out to work, 1,433 work right here, and 13,075 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 (1.23 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.
The kinds of work in Forest Hills
14,508 jobs are based in Forest Hills.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Forest Hills, 2011 → 2021: 18,149 → 14,508. 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 Forest Hills’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Forest Hills commutes less than 9 miles
About 15% 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.
Work next door: 26% of Forest Hills’ workers
The biggest share goes to Cascade Township (11%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Forest Hills workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Hills | – | — | — | 20 min | $158,005 |
| Cannon Township | under 2% | A | D | 26 min | $131,956 |
| Grand Rapids Township | 4% | A | B | 20 min | $123,246 |
| Cascade Township | 11% | A+ | C+ | 19 min | $135,896 |
| Vergennes Township | under 2% | A+ | D | 27 min | $113,482 |
| Kentwood | 9% | B | A− | 20 min | $74,373 |
| Lowell Township | under 2% | A+ | C | 23 min | $104,794 |
| Northview | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
| Plainfield Township | 2% | A− | C+ | 20 min | $94,218 |
Same-state neighbors only. Northview: 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 Forest Hills’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 Forest Hills: questions
What is the median household income in Forest Hills?
$158,005 (±$13,605) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Forest Hills?
3.0%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Forest Hills?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Forest Hills work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grand Rapids (25%, 8 mi), Cascade Township (11%, 4 mi), Kentwood (9%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Can you get around Forest Hills without a car?
1% 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 Forest Hills, from the people who make the trip.
More of Forest Hills
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.