City of Milwaukee · Photo: Bill Herd · Public domainFrankfort has 2.2 jobs for every working resident: 758 people commute in to work
Jobs and income earn Frankfort D; getting around on foot earns it A. Frankfort has 864 jobs for 388 working residents. Household incomes here are lower than in 82% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Frankfort apart on work
Frankfort is where the jobs are
Frankfort has 864 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Frankfort has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Frankfort went from 527 in 2011 to 864 in 2021, +64%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Frankfort are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan worker. 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; with 388 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Where Frankfort’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Frankfort is better than 11% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Frankfort’s grade up (12.3%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 7% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (6.7%) is left out: Frankfort’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, Frankfort could be anywhere from D− to C.
The workday shuffle in and out of Frankfort
On a workday 282 residents head out to work and 106 work right here.
About 1,800 people are in Frankfort on a workday afternoon, 37% more 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.
Most jobs in Frankfort are in services
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Frankfort, 2011 → 2021: 527 → 864. 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 Frankfort’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Frankfort takes about 19 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 Frankfort workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 332 commuters (the 11% 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.
Where Frankfort’s workers come from
Where Frankfort clocks in
10% of workers
8% 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.
Where in the region Frankfort works
About 29% 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.
Frankfort is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Frankfort is more walkable than 88% 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 8.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 372 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). 4.2% of Frankfort households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Frankfort’s commuters take a bus or train.
Frankfort places 3,929th of 4,866 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 3,927 | Raven VA | 1,345 | $53K | 12.8% | 9.6% | 2% | D |
| 3,928 | Camargo KY | 1,051 | $48K | 26.7% | 7.0% | 1% | D |
| 3,929 | Frankfort MI | 1,280 | $54K | 12.3% | 6.7% | 27% | D |
| 3,930 | Appleton City MO | 1,096 | $49K | 10.9% | 2.4% | 12% | D |
| 3,931 | New Paris OH | 1,480 | $39K | 23.7% | 7.2% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Frankfort, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Frankfort and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Gilmore Township (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Frankfort workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frankfort | – | D | A | 19 min | $54,327 |
| Elberta | under 2% | — | — | 13 min | — |
| Gilmore Township | 5% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| Crystal Lake Township | 3% | C− | B− | 19 min | $69,913 |
Same-state neighbors only. Elberta and Gilmore Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Frankfort’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 Frankfort: questions
What is the median household income in Frankfort?
$54,327 (±$5,907) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Frankfort?
12.3%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Frankfort?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Frankfort work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Benzonia Township (10%, 6 mi), Traverse City (8%, 32 mi), Gilmore Township (5%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Frankfort walkable?
Frankfort is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Frankfort without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Frankfort, from the people who make the trip.
More of Frankfort
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.