Most of Free Soil commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Free Soil report 26 jobs; 54 of its residents have a job. Only 2% stay in Free Soil for work; outside it, Grand Rapids is the main destination (7%, 84 miles). For 0% of workers, the job is at home, where Michigan as a whole has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How a workday changes Free Soil
On a workday 53 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 25 people come in from elsewhere.
About 120 people are in Free Soil on a workday afternoon, 19% 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.
Where Free Soil’s working residents head each day
Where Free Soil clocks in
7% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 100% of the jobs in Free Soil
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Free Soil, 2011 → 2021: 78 → 26. 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 Free Soil’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 35 minutes to work from Free Soil
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Free Soil workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 47 commuters (the 0% 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.
How far it is to work from Free Soil
About 43% 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.
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 Free Soil: questions
What is the median household income in Free Soil?
$58,750 (±$23,065) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Free Soil?
8.0%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Free Soil?
35 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Free Soil work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grand Rapids (7%, 84 mi), Manistee Township (7%, 12 mi), Amber Township (6%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Can you get around Free Soil without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Free Soil, from the people who make the trip.
More of Free Soil
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.