Hiawatha Sportsman's Club 1931 Maintenance Building and Commissary · Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Garfield Township are lower than in 84% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 18.2% of residents, against 13.2% across Michigan. For jobs and income Garfield Township is better than 4% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns (C+). About one in ten work in Garfield Township itself; outside it, Sault Ste. Marie draws the most (8%, 58 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Garfield Township, in brief
A big share show a job far from home
59% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Garfield Township’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Garfield Township is Sault Ste. Marie, 58 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (28) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Garfield Township are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 46 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 342 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Garfield Township
The poverty rate holds Garfield Township’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (10.1%) is left out: Garfield Township’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 three years behind.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Garfield Township could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The distance from Garfield Township to work
About 59% 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.
About 18 minutes to work from Garfield Township
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Garfield Township workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 339 commuters (the 9% 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.
Garfield Township on a workday afternoon
On a workday 313 residents head out to work, 29 work right here, and 170 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Garfield Township on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.58 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.
Where Garfield Township goes to work
Where Garfield Township clocks in
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.
What the 199 jobs in Garfield Township are
199 jobs are based in Garfield Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Garfield Township, 2011 → 2021: 131 → 199. 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 Garfield Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
For most of Garfield Township, work means a drive
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 5.4.
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). 9.9% of Garfield Township households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Garfield Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600, and where Garfield Township sits
| # | 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% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 110 | Dimondale MI | 1,183 | $111K | 3.2% | 4.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 271 | Petersburg MI | 1,152 | $83K | 1.8% | 1.7% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 319 | Milan Township MI | 1,540 | $96K | 6.0% | 4.1% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,985 | Griggsville Township IL | 1,240 | $44K | 20.4% | 3.8% | 10% | D− |
| 3,986 | Liberty Township IN | 1,520 | $54K | 35.0% | 17.7% | 5% | D− |
| 3,987 | Garfield Township MI | 1,187 | $53K | 18.2% | 10.1% | 8% | D− |
| 3,988 | Springdale Township MI | 1,433 | $53K | 19.4% | 6.5% | <1% | D− |
| 3,989 | Junction City CA | 1,190 | $48K | 16.1% | 4.3% | 3% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Garfield Township, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Garfield Township and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Pentland Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Garfield Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garfield Township | – | D− | C+ | 18 min | $52,917 |
| Pentland Township | 3% | C− | C+ | 17 min | $68,607 |
| Portage Township | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Newton Township | under 2% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| Hudson Township | under 2% | — | — | 44 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Portage Township, Newton Township and Hudson Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Garfield Township’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 Garfield Township: questions
What is the median household income in Garfield Township?
$52,917 (±$10,608) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Garfield Township?
18.2%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Garfield Township?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Garfield Township work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sault Ste. Marie (8%, 58 mi), McMillan Township (8%, 23 mi), St. Ignace (7%, 42 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Garfield Township walkable?
Garfield Township is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Garfield Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Garfield Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Garfield Township
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.