Hall-Fowler Memorial Library · Photo: Gpwitteveen · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Ionia (1.9%) is lower than in 86% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Ionia is better than 56% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (B). 6% of workers work from home, against 14% across Michigan. About one in five work in Ionia itself; outside it, Grand Rapids draws the most (7%, 29 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Ionia in brief
The figures behind Ionia’s Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Ionia’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($63,978, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on 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 fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ionia could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
The places Ionia commutes to
Where Ionia 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 a workday changes Ionia
On a workday 2,858 residents head out to work, 596 work right here, and 4,081 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Ionia on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.35 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.
30% of the jobs in Ionia make or build things
4,677 jobs are based in Ionia.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ionia, 2011 → 2021: 5,144 → 4,677. 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 Ionia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 22 minutes from Ionia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ionia workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,920 commuters (the 6% 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 Ionia, by distance
About 24% 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 Ionia: mostly by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 12.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 4.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,228 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). 14.7% of Ionia households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 6% of Ionia’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ionia is 1,192nd of 2,151 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 16,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Grosse Pointe Farms MI | 9,735 | $161K | 2.5% | 1.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,190 | Middleburg FL | 11,644 | $75K | 8.0% | 3.0% | 4% | B |
| 1,191 | Beach Park IL | 14,114 | $86K | 8.5% | 8.4% | 2% | B |
| 1,192 | Ionia MI | 12,208 | $64K | 12.0% | 1.9% | 17% | B |
| 1,193 | Troy MO | 15,201 | $79K | 13.6% | 2.3% | 14% | B |
| 1,194 | Gardnerville Ranchos NV | 12,114 | $88K | 9.5% | 2.1% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,151 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Ionia, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Ionia and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Ionia Township (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ionia workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ionia | – | B | B | 22 min | $63,978 |
| Ionia Township | 4% | C− | C− | 27 min | $60,189 |
| Easton Township | under 2% | C+ | D | 27 min | $76,418 |
| Berlin Township | under 2% | B+ | D− | 22 min | $74,250 |
| Orange Township | under 2% | B+ | C+ | 22 min | $91,667 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ionia’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 Ionia: questions
What is the median household income in Ionia?
$63,978 (±$11,561) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ionia?
12.0%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ionia?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ionia work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grand Rapids (7%, 29 mi), Lansing (5%, 32 mi), Ionia Township (4%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Ionia walkable?
Ionia is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 4.6 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ionia without a car?
6% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ionia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ionia
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.