Hart Downtown Historic District · Public domainThere are 2.0 jobs in Hart for every working resident, and 1,293 people commute in
There are 1,447 jobs in Hart, against 724 working residents. Jobs and income earn Hart D; getting around on foot earns it A−. Household incomes here are lower than in 87% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Hart at work: what stands out
Hart is where the jobs are
Hart has 1,447 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Hart are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Hart workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Hart’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 724 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Hart’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Hart is better than 8% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Hart’s grade.
Unemployment (6.1%) is left out: Hart’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, Hart could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The workday shuffle in and out of Hart
On a workday 570 residents head out to work and 154 work right here.
About 2,800 people are in Hart on a workday afternoon, 35% more than live here.
2.0 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.
The trip to work from Hart: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hart workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 790 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.
Making and building: 31% of jobs based in Hart
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hart, 2011 → 2021: 1,405 → 1,447. 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 Hart’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who travels to work in Hart, and from where
Where Hart clocks in
5% 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.
How far it is to work from Hart
About 28% 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.
Hart is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hart is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.9% 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 822 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). 12.0% of Hart households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Hart’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Hart ranks: 5,128th of 5,793 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,800
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 142 | Village of Grosse Pointe Shores MI | 2,533 | $190K | 2.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 225 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,126 | Bull Shoals AR | 1,888 | $42K | 14.6% | 12.9% | 9% | D |
| 5,127 | Lake Park GA | 1,559 | $52K | 31.1% | 0.0% | 2% | D |
| 5,128 | Hart MI | 2,065 | $51K | 21.3% | 6.1% | 21% | D |
| 5,129 | White Cloud MI | 1,548 | $45K | 15.1% | 7.0% | 9% | D |
| 5,130 | Mendenhall MS | 2,115 | $40K | 31.7% | 7.2% | 10% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,793 | 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 Hart, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
The towns next door employ 14% of Hart
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hart workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hart | – | D | A− | 14 min | $50,956 |
| Hart Township | 14% | — | — | 21 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Hart Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Hart Township. Darker towns draw more of Hart’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 Hart: questions
What is the median household income in Hart?
$50,956 (±$11,774) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hart?
21.3%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hart?
14 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hart work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hart Township (14%, 2 mi), Muskegon (5%, 33 mi), Grand Rapids (4%, 62 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Hart walkable?
Hart is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 10.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hart without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hart, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hart
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.