Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY 3.0Iron Mountain draws about two in five of Kingsford’s working residents
About one in five work in Kingsford; the top destination outside it is Iron Mountain (41%, 2 miles). Jobs and income earn Kingsford C; getting around on foot earns it B+. Working from home is the commute for 7% of workers; Michigan has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Kingsford and work: the main findings
Commutes from Kingsford are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan worker, and quicker than any town next door (16 to 20 minutes). Time on the road ↓
Most Kingsford residents work close to home
74% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about three in four. How far ↓
Kingsford makes and builds things
37% of the jobs based in Kingsford are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Kingsford residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 29%. The jobs ↓
Kingsford has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Kingsford went from 1,963 in 2011 to 2,651 in 2021, +35%. 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.
Income, poverty and work: Kingsford’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Kingsford is better than 26% of U.S. towns, #573 of 701 in Michigan. The poverty rate holds Kingsford’s grade up (9.0%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down (6.4%, U.S. 5.2%).
The commuting and job counts on this page are Census LEHD 2021: Michigan reports later than other states, so its newest year is three years behind.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kingsford could be anywhere from D to B.
About 13 minutes each way for Kingsford’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kingsford workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,004 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 distance from Kingsford to work
About 17% 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.
Kingsford works in goods: 37% of its jobs
2,651 jobs are based in Kingsford.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kingsford, 2011 → 2021: 1,963 → 2,651. 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 Kingsford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Kingsford by day
On a workday 1,755 residents head out to work, 427 work right here, and 2,224 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 (1.21 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 people from Kingsford work
Where Kingsford clocks in
41% of workers
3% 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.
The commute in Kingsford is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kingsford is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns, #159 of 701 in Michigan. Both inputs place Kingsford near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,145 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). 5.1% of Kingsford households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Kingsford’s commuters take a bus or train.
Kingsford next to U.S. towns of 3,600 to 6,900: 2,811th of 3,627 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | Northville MI | 6,013 | $146K | 2.8% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 128 | Vergennes Township MI | 4,968 | $113K | 1.5% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,809 | Thetford Township MI | 6,482 | $74K | 15.2% | 10.0% | 2% | C |
| 2,810 | Bethel WA | 4,394 | $80K | 16.2% | 11.5% | 1% | C |
| 2,811 | Kingsford MI | 5,096 | $62K | 9.0% | 6.4% | 20% | C |
| 2,812 | Wildwood NJ | 5,068 | $75K | 13.7% | 7.4% | 16% | C |
| 2,813 | Armona CA | 3,890 | $64K | 11.2% | 17.2% | 4% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,627 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Kingsford, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Bordering towns draw 49% of Kingsford’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Kingsford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingsford | – | C | B+ | 13 min | $61,635 |
| Breitung Township | 7% | B− | C | 16 min | $72,343 |
| Iron Mountain | 41% | C | A | 16 min | $59,405 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Iron Mountain. Darker towns draw more of Kingsford’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 Kingsford: questions
What is the median household income in Kingsford?
$61,635 (±$4,178) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kingsford?
9.0%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kingsford?
13 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kingsford work?
20% work in town.
Is Kingsford walkable?
Kingsford is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kingsford without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kingsford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kingsford
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.