Harrison has lower household incomes than 96% of U.S. towns
Harrison grades D− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Below the poverty line: 25.5% of residents, where Michigan as a whole has 13.2%. About one in ten work in Harrison; the top destination outside it is Mount Pleasant (7%, 28 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Harrison apart on work
Jobs in Harrison have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Harrison went from 328 in 2011 to 818 in 2021, +149%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
42% 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 Harrison workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Harrison’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 20% 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 572 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What’s behind Harrison’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Harrison is better than 3% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Harrison’s grade up (ahead of 21% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($39,430, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (0.8%) is left out: Harrison’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 fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Harrison could be anywhere from D− to D.
The 818 jobs based in Harrison
818 jobs are based in Harrison.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harrison, 2011 → 2021: 328 → 818. 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 Harrison’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Harrison goes to work
About 42% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Harrison
On a workday 507 residents head out to work, 65 work right here, and 753 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,400 people are in Harrison on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.43 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.
Where people from Harrison work
Where Harrison 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.
The daily trip from Harrison: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harrison workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 574 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.
Driving is how Harrison gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Harrison is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.8% across Michigan.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 630 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). 9.7% of Harrison households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Harrison’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Harrison compares with U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900
| # | 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 132 | 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 5,125 | Des Arc AR | 1,841 | $31K | 20.0% | 4.2% | 15% | D− |
| 5,126 | Tompkinsville KY | 2,235 | $39K | 27.3% | 7.4% | 29% | D− |
| 5,127 | Harrison MI | 2,171 | $39K | 25.5% | 0.8% | 11% | D− |
| 5,128 | Gallatin MO | 1,848 | $47K | 19.8% | 4.5% | 12% | D− |
| 5,129 | Conewango NY | 1,734 | $51K | 32.0% | 6.5% | 1% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | 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 Harrison, 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 Harrison: questions
What is the median household income in Harrison?
$39,430 (±$3,134) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Harrison?
25.5%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Harrison?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Harrison work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mount Pleasant (7%, 28 mi), Clare (6%, 13 mi), Hayes Township (4%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Harrison walkable?
Harrison is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Harrison 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 Harrison, from the people who make the trip.
More of Harrison
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.