Photo: Doug Coldwell · CC BY-SA 3.0Work and commuting in Kaleva
Only 5% work in Kaleva itself; outside it, Traverse City draws the most (9%, 33 miles). The trip to work takes 27 minutes on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 160 jobs are based in Kaleva, against 164 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How many people are in Kaleva by day
On a workday 155 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 151 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 (0.98 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.
Where the trip to work from Kaleva ends
Where Kaleva clocks in
9% of workers
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.
In Kaleva, 53% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kaleva, 2011 → 2021: 120 → 160. 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 Kaleva’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Kaleva: about 27 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kaleva workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 154 commuters (the 13% 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.
Where in the region Kaleva works
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.
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 Kaleva: questions
What is the median household income in Kaleva?
$43,125 (±$11,965) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kaleva?
34.6%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kaleva?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kaleva work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Traverse City (9%, 33 mi), Maple Grove Township (7%, 2 mi), Weldon Township (5%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Can you get around Kaleva without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kaleva, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kaleva
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.