Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Laurium earn less than those in 82% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 14 minutes each way, where Michigan has 24 and the U.S. 26. 16.0% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 13.2% for Michigan as a whole. Laurium grades D for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Laurium
Laurium and Calumet Township trade workers both ways
Calumet Township is the top workplace for Laurium residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Laurium come from (37% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Laurium are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Laurium workers earn over $40,000 a year
43% of Laurium’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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; with 680 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Laurium’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Laurium is better than 8% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Laurium’s grade.
Unemployment (3.6%) is left out: Laurium’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
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 and poverty, Laurium could be anywhere from D− to C.
32% of working residents work in Calumet Township
Where Laurium clocks in
32% of workers
18% of workers
13% 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.
Laurium’s commute takes about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Laurium workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 736 commuters (the 8% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
416 jobs are based in Laurium.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Laurium, 2011 → 2021: 118 → 416. 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 Laurium’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Laurium for work, and who comes in
On a workday 623 residents head out to work, 57 work right here, and 359 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Laurium on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.61 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2021, primary jobs.
Miles to work from Laurium
About 19% 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.
In Laurium, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Laurium is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 7.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 804 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). 9.3% of Laurium households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Laurium’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Laurium is 5,144th among 5,921 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 109 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 148 | Village of Grosse Pointe Shores MI | 2,533 | $190K | 2.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 223 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,142 | Kensett AR | 1,425 | $31K | 28.0% | 5.3% | 2% | D |
| 5,143 | Westport IN | 1,406 | $49K | 22.7% | 10.4% | 4% | D |
| 5,144 | Laurium MI | 1,891 | $54K | 16.0% | 3.6% | 8% | D |
| 5,145 | Tawas City MI | 1,830 | $46K | 12.7% | 6.2% | 20% | D |
| 5,146 | Brownsville PA | 2,075 | $32K | 31.6% | 9.4% | 7% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Laurium, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
32% of Laurium works in a town next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Laurium workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laurium | – | D | A− | 14 min | $54,167 |
| Calumet Township | 32% | D | A− | 15 min | $52,836 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Calumet Township. Darker towns draw more of Laurium’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 Laurium: questions
What is the median household income in Laurium?
$54,167 (±$16,424) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Laurium?
16.0%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Laurium?
14 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Laurium work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Calumet Township (32%, 2 mi), Houghton (18%, 10 mi), Hancock (13%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Laurium walkable?
Laurium is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Laurium without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Laurium, from the people who make the trip.
More of Laurium
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.