Lake Township has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs and income earn Lake Township B−; getting around on foot earns it C+. Employers in Lake Township report 492 jobs, and 959 of its residents work somewhere. Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers, next to 14% for Michigan as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Lake Township in brief
Inside Lake Township’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lake Township is better than 47% of U.S. towns, #423 of 701 in Michigan. The poverty rate holds Lake Township’s grade up (6.3%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 13% of U.S. towns). It also does well on unemployment.
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 fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lake Township could be anywhere from C− to B+.
A commute of about 22 minutes in Lake Township
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Township workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,352 commuters (the 4% 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 many people are in Lake Township by day
On a workday 915 residents head out to work, 44 work right here, and 448 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,400 people are in Lake Township on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2021, primary jobs.
21% of working residents work in Cadillac
Where Lake Township clocks in
Lines 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.
Jobs in Lake Township: what the 492 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Township, 2011 → 2021: 291 → 492. 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 Lake Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Lake Township
About 22% 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.
Most of Lake Township commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lake Township is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns, #363 of 701 in Michigan. Both inputs place Lake Township 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 1,408 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). 1.6% of Lake Township households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Lake Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lake Township is 2,378th of 4,703 U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,800 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Franklin MI | 3,134 | $194K | 2.8% | 2.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 133 | Village of Grosse Pointe Shores MI | 2,533 | $190K | 2.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 222 | Milton Township MI | 3,187 | $119K | 3.2% | 2.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,376 | Huntington TX | 2,157 | $64K | 12.3% | 2.3% | 5% | B− |
| 2,377 | Brookfield MA | 3,516 | $81K | 8.9% | 6.3% | 5% | B− |
| 2,378 | Lake Township MI | 2,851 | $73K | 6.3% | 3.6% | 5% | B− |
| 2,379 | Arnold CA | 2,482 | $92K | 4.2% | 5.4% | 7% | B− |
| 2,380 | Winnie TX | 3,290 | $81K | 4.4% | 12.8% | 11% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,703 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 0% | 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 Lake Township, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
13% of Lake Township works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to Haring Township (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Township | – | B− | C+ | 22 min | $72,917 |
| Lake City | 3% | — | — | 16 min | — |
| Haring Township | 6% | B− | C | 25 min | $74,563 |
| Caldwell Township | under 2% | C− | D | 28 min | $54,250 |
| Richland Township | 4% | B− | C+ | 18 min | $88,295 |
| Reeder Township | under 2% | C− | B+ | 21 min | $69,000 |
Same-state neighbors only. Lake City: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lake Township’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 Lake Township: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Township?
$72,917 (±$6,076) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Township?
6.3%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Township?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake Township work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cadillac (21%, 8 mi), McBain (8%, 8 mi), Haring Township (6%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Lake Township walkable?
Lake Township is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Township without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake Township
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.