M-27-Au Sable River Bridge · Photo: Andrew Jameson · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Grayling earn less than in almost any other U.S. town
Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Poverty touches 31.9% of residents, against 13.2% across Michigan. Grayling grades D− for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Grayling
Grayling has far more jobs than workers
Grayling has 1,822 jobs, 3.1 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,200 people are in town, 62% more than the 2,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% 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 ↓
Fewer than half of Grayling workers earn over $40,000 a year
40% of Grayling’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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 595 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Grayling’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Grayling is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Grayling’s grade.
Unemployment (4.6%) is left out: Grayling’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 firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Grayling stays D−.
Who leaves Grayling for work, and who comes in
On a workday 435 residents head out to work, 160 work right here, and 1,662 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,200 people are in Grayling on a workday afternoon, 62% more than live here.
3.1 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
How far Grayling goes to work
About 32% 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 Grayling’s employers do
1,822 jobs are based in Grayling.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Grayling, 2011 → 2021: 1,731 → 1,822. 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 Grayling’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Grayling’s workforce comes from
Where Grayling clocks in
6% 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 19 minutes each way, quicker than most of Michigan
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Grayling workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 494 commuters (the 4% 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.
Grayling is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Grayling is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 8.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 514 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). 18.1% of Grayling households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Grayling’s commuters take a bus or train.
Grayling and other U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 137 | Village of Grosse Pointe Shores MI | 2,533 | $190K | 2.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 213 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,406 | Moore Haven FL | 1,745 | $40K | 26.3% | 12.2% | 7% | D− |
| 5,407 | Jonesville LA | 1,531 | $44K | 34.3% | 6.4% | 23% | D− |
| 5,408 | Grayling MI | 1,969 | $33K | 31.9% | 4.6% | 27% | D− |
| 5,409 | Doniphan MO | 1,784 | $38K | 30.2% | 3.3% | 31% | D− |
| 5,410 | Steelville MO | 1,447 | $32K | 34.8% | 4.3% | 12% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Grayling, 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 Grayling: questions
What is the median household income in Grayling?
$32,545 (±$7,502) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Grayling?
31.9%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Grayling?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Grayling work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grayling Township (14%, 4 mi), Traverse City (6%, 44 mi), Beaver Creek Township (3%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Grayling walkable?
Grayling is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Grayling without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Grayling, from the people who make the trip.
More of Grayling
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.