Photo: Gpwitteveen · CC BY-SA 3.0Jobs and the daily commute in Jenison
A typical one-way commute lasts 20 minutes, where Michigan has 24 and the U.S. 26. Only 7% stay in Jenison for work; outside it, Grand Rapids is the main destination (18%, 10 miles). Jenison has 6,292 jobs for 7,363 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Jenison in brief
Jenison trades workers with the towns around it
Jenison has about as many jobs (6,292) as working residents (7,363), but they are mostly different people: 6,855 residents leave for work each day while 5,784 people come in. Only 8% of the jobs in Jenison are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Jenison has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Jenison went from 4,593 in 2011 to 6,292 in 2021, +37%. The jobs ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
33% of the jobs based in Jenison are held by workers 29 or younger, against 24% of Jenison’s own working residents. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Jenison on a workday afternoon
On a workday 6,855 residents head out to work, 508 work right here, and 5,784 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 (0.85 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.
What Jenison’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jenison, 2011 → 2021: 4,593 → 6,292. 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 Jenison’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where people from Jenison work
Where Jenison clocks in
10% 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.
Time on the road from Jenison: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jenison workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,179 commuters (the 11% 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.
How far Jenison goes to work
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 Jenison: questions
What is the median household income in Jenison?
$89,593 (±$4,865) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jenison?
3.7%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jenison?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jenison work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grand Rapids (18%, 10 mi), Georgetown Township (10%, 1 mi), Wyoming (9%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Can you get around Jenison without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Jenison, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jenison
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.