James Noble Sherwood House · Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Gun Plain Township have higher incomes than those in 67% of U.S. towns
Only 5% stay in Gun Plain Township for work; outside it, Kalamazoo is the main destination (12%, 12 miles). Below the poverty line: 10.2% of residents, against 13.2% across Michigan. Gun Plain Township grades B for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Gun Plain Township apart on work
Jobs in Gun Plain Township have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Gun Plain Township went from 925 in 2011 to 2,363 in 2021, +155%. The jobs ↓
Gun Plain Township makes and builds things
71% of the jobs based in Gun Plain Township are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Gun Plain Township residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 30%. The jobs ↓
Gun Plain Township trades workers with the towns around it
Gun Plain Township has about as many jobs (2,363) as working residents (2,736), but they are mostly different people: 2,611 residents leave for work each day while 2,238 people come in. Only 5% of the jobs in Gun Plain Township are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Gun Plain Township gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Gun Plain Township is better than 64% of U.S. towns, #284 of 701 in Michigan. Household income holds Gun Plain Township’s grade up ($89,346, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on unemployment and job access by car.
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 rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gun Plain Township could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Making and building: 71% of jobs based in Gun Plain Township
2,363 jobs are based in Gun Plain Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gun Plain Township, 2011 → 2021: 925 → 2,363. 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 Gun Plain Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Gun Plain Township by day
On a workday 2,611 residents head out to work, 125 work right here, and 2,238 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.86 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2021, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Gun Plain Township’s residents
Where Gun Plain Township clocks in
12% 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 28 minutes each way for Gun Plain Township’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gun Plain Township workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,782 commuters (the 10% 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 Gun Plain Township goes to work
About 15% 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.
Getting around Gun Plain Township: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gun Plain Township is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns, #409 of 701 in Michigan. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 4.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,087 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). 1.9% of Gun Plain Township households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Gun Plain Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,370 U.S. towns of 4,300 to 8,300, Gun Plain Township comes 1,395th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Northville MI | 6,013 | $146K | 2.8% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 117 | Vergennes Township MI | 4,968 | $113K | 1.5% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,393 | Cedar Creek TX | 4,440 | $74K | 14.2% | 1.5% | 1% | B |
| 1,394 | Marion MA | 5,366 | $143K | 9.0% | 5.7% | 16% | B |
| 1,395 | Gun Plain Township MI | 6,169 | $89K | 10.2% | 3.7% | 5% | B |
| 1,396 | Valley Township PA | 8,100 | $89K | 11.6% | 4.0% | 3% | B |
| 1,397 | Boyes Hot Springs CA | 7,247 | $101K | 11.6% | 3.4% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,370 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Gun Plain Township, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
The towns around Gun Plain Township
The biggest share goes to Plainwell (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Gun Plain Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gun Plain Township | – | B | C | 28 min | $89,346 |
| Plainwell | 7% | C+ | A− | 21 min | $66,525 |
| Otsego Township | under 3% | B+ | B− | 19 min | $74,145 |
| Prairieville Township | under 3% | B− | C | 31 min | $67,332 |
| Martin Township | under 3% | B− | C | 27 min | $72,125 |
| Cooper Township | under 3% | B+ | D | 22 min | $82,864 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Gun Plain 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 Gun Plain Township: questions
What is the median household income in Gun Plain Township?
$89,346 (±$12,720) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gun Plain Township?
10.2%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gun Plain Township?
28 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gun Plain Township work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kalamazoo (12%, 12 mi), Plainwell (7%, 3 mi), Portage (6%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Gun Plain Township walkable?
Gun Plain Township is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gun Plain Township without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gun Plain Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gun Plain 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.