Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs, income and commuting in Interlochen, MI
At 24 minutes each way, commutes from Interlochen run about the Michigan average. Only 3% work in Interlochen; the top destination outside it is Traverse City (31%, 11 miles). 272 jobs are based in Interlochen; 250 of its residents have a job.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Interlochen and work: the main findings
Where people from Interlochen work
Where Interlochen clocks in
31% of workers
17% of workers
13% 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.
In and out of Interlochen on a workday
On a workday 243 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 265 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 (1.09 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.
Jobs in Interlochen: what the 272 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Interlochen, 2011 → 2021: 108 → 272. 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 Interlochen’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes each way for Interlochen’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Interlochen workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 335 commuters (the 7% 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.
The commute from Interlochen, by distance
About 18% 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 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 Interlochen: questions
What is the median household income in Interlochen?
$104,883 (±$26,497) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Interlochen?
10.5%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Interlochen?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Interlochen work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Traverse City (31%, 11 mi), Garfield Township (17%, 8 mi), Green Lake Township (13%, 1 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Can you get around Interlochen without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Interlochen, from the people who make the trip.
More of Interlochen
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.