Photo: Bjoertvedt · CC BY-SA 3.0Fremont draws 2,858 commuters a day, with 1.9 jobs for every working resident
Household incomes here are lower than in 78% of U.S. towns. Fremont has 3,264 jobs; 1,725 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Fremont C+; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Fremont, in brief
Fremont is where the jobs are
Fremont has 3,264 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Fremont’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Fremont is Grand Rapids, 38 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (169) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Fremont than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Fremont fell from 4,518 in 2011 to 3,264 in 2021, −28%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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.
Why Fremont gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fremont is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #448 of 701 in Michigan. Unemployment holds Fremont’s grade up (2.8%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($57,452, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
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, poverty and unemployment, Fremont could be anywhere from C− to B+.
How a workday changes Fremont
On a workday 1,319 residents head out to work and 406 work right here.
About 6,100 people are in Fremont on a workday afternoon, 33% 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.
How many miles Fremont commutes
About 17% 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 Fremont
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fremont, 2011 → 2021: 4,518 → 3,264. 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 Fremont’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Fremont’s workers come from
Where Fremont clocks in
4% 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.
About 21 minutes each way for Fremont’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fremont workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,828 commuters (the 8% 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.
Fremont is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fremont is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #81 of 701 in Michigan. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 7.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,988 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). 9.1% of Fremont households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fremont’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 3,200 to 6,200, Fremont ranks 2,332nd of 3,938 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Northville MI | 6,013 | $146K | 2.8% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 119 | Vergennes Township MI | 4,968 | $113K | 1.5% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Ann Arbor Township MI | 4,506 | $165K | 7.2% | 0.5% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,330 | West Peoria IL | 4,187 | $66K | 8.4% | 9.2% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,331 | Leroy Township MI | 3,881 | $85K | 12.8% | 7.1% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,332 | Fremont MI | 4,599 | $57K | 8.7% | 2.8% | 24% | C+ |
| 2,333 | Cold Spring MN | 4,329 | $72K | 9.8% | 5.3% | 19% | C+ |
| 2,334 | Kitty Hawk NC | 3,670 | $94K | 4.7% | 8.9% | 18% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,938 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Fremont, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Fremont and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Sheridan Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fremont workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fremont | – | C+ | A− | 21 min | $57,452 |
| Sheridan Township | 3% | B− | C+ | 21 min | $76,042 |
| Dayton Township | under 3% | B | C+ | 24 min | $81,635 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fremont’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 Fremont: questions
What is the median household income in Fremont?
$57,452 (±$16,051) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fremont?
8.7%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fremont?
21 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fremont work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grand Rapids (10%, 38 mi), Muskegon (4%, 22 mi), Newaygo (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Fremont walkable?
Fremont is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fremont without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fremont, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fremont
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.