Howard City has lower household incomes than 82% of U.S. towns
5% of workers work from home (Michigan 14%). 23.9% of residents are in poverty; Michigan has 13.2%. For jobs and income Howard City is better than 16% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (C+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Howard City
Howard City’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Howard City is Grand Rapids, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (107) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Howard City workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 24 across Michigan. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical 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 746 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Howard City’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Howard City’s grade up (ahead of 48% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (1.8%) is left out: Howard City’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, Howard City could be anywhere from D to C.
How far Howard City’s workers travel
About 22% 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 daily trip from Howard City: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Howard City workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 785 commuters (the 5% 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.
A workday in Howard City: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 718 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 436 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Howard City on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.62 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.
14% of working residents work in Grand Rapids
Where Howard City clocks in
Lines 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 kinds of work in Howard City
464 jobs are based in Howard City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Howard City, 2011 → 2021: 492 → 464. 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 Howard City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Howard City walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 827 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). 8.7% of Howard City households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Howard City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Howard City places 4,550th of 5,921 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 109 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 148 | Village of Grosse Pointe Shores MI | 2,533 | $190K | 2.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 223 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,548 | Valencia NM | 2,406 | $55K | 29.4% | 7.8% | 1% | C− |
| 4,549 | Castlewood VA | 1,357 | $61K | 10.9% | 1.3% | 3% | C− |
| 4,550 | Howard City MI | 1,923 | $55K | 23.9% | 1.8% | 4% | C− |
| 4,551 | Portage PA | 2,344 | $46K | 23.2% | 5.0% | 7% | C− |
| 4,552 | Eldorado TX | 1,457 | $69K | 13.5% | 4.0% | 24% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Howard City, 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 Howard City: questions
What is the median household income in Howard City?
$54,688 (±$13,530) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Howard City?
23.9%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Howard City?
31 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Howard City work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grand Rapids (14%, 31 mi), Reynolds Township (5%, 4 mi), Rockford (5%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Howard City walkable?
Howard City is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Howard City without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Howard City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Howard City
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.