Jobs and earnings in Fowler, and the trip to work
Below the poverty line: 3.1% of residents, where Michigan as a whole has 13.2%. The two grades for Fowler are B+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Only 6% work in Fowler itself; outside it, Lansing draws the most (16%, 22 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Fowler stands out on work
Fowler’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Fowler is Lansing, 22 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (84) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
49% of the jobs in Fowler are in trade, transport and utilities, against 14% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Fowler
65% of Fowler residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 45% of the jobs based in Fowler pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 94% leave town for their job. 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 538 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Fowler’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Fowler is better than 68% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Fowler’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 46% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Fowler’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, Fowler could be anywhere from B− to A−.
How far Fowler’s workers travel
About 18% 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 kinds of work in Fowler
336 jobs are based in Fowler.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fowler, 2011 → 2021: 243 → 336. 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 Fowler’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Fowler: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 508 residents head out to work, 30 work right here, and 306 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Fowler on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.62 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
The places Fowler commutes to
Where Fowler clocks in
16% of workers
12% 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.
The daily trip from Fowler: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fowler workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 544 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.
Driving is how Fowler gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fowler is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 6.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 619 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). 3.1% of Fowler households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fowler’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700, Fowler comes 880th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 124 | Dimondale MI | 1,183 | $111K | 3.2% | 4.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 151 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 175 | Sylvan Lake MI | 1,685 | $106K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 878 | State Center IA | 1,389 | $84K | 4.9% | 2.0% | 10% | B+ |
| 879 | Brussels WI | 1,089 | $101K | 6.0% | 2.9% | 3% | B+ |
| 880 | Fowler MI | 1,237 | $74K | 3.1% | 0.0% | 6% | B+ |
| 881 | East Nelson Township IL | 1,007 | $104K | 5.6% | 0.0% | 2% | B+ |
| 882 | Railroad Township IN | 1,219 | $90K | 1.8% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Fowler, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
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 Fowler: questions
What is the median household income in Fowler?
$74,282 (±$9,825) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fowler?
3.1%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fowler?
21 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fowler work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lansing (16%, 22 mi), St. Johns (12%, 9 mi), Dallas Township (8%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Fowler walkable?
Fowler is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fowler without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fowler, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fowler
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.