Households in Marcellus have lower incomes than those in 84% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 16.4% of residents, where Michigan as a whole has 13.2%. Jobs and income earn Marcellus C−; getting around on foot earns it A−. 3% of workers work from home, 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
Marcellus and work: the main findings
Jobs & income in Marcellus: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Marcellus is better than 18% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Marcellus’ grade up (ahead of 43% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($52,917, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (6.0%) is left out: Marcellus’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 rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Marcellus could be anywhere from D to B−.
From Marcellus, about 25 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marcellus workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 509 commuters (the 3% 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 a workday changes Marcellus
On a workday 373 residents head out to work, 37 work right here, and 210 people come in from elsewhere.
About 880 people are in Marcellus on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.60 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.
13% of working residents work in Marcellus Township
Where Marcellus clocks in
5% 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.
What Marcellus’ employers do
247 jobs are based in Marcellus.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marcellus, 2011 → 2021: 218 → 247. 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 Marcellus’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Marcellus’ workers travel
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Marcellus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Marcellus is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Marcellus 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 523 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). 4.1% of Marcellus households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Marcellus’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400, Marcellus ranks 2,176th of 3,133 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | Dimondale MI | 1,183 | $111K | 3.2% | 4.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 172 | Petersburg MI | 1,152 | $83K | 1.8% | 1.7% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 216 | Freedom Township MI | 1,298 | $113K | 6.7% | 2.5% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,174 | Palmona Park FL | 1,115 | $44K | 26.7% | 0.0% | 1% | C− |
| 2,175 | Edmund SC | 1,161 | $43K | 23.8% | 9.2% | <1% | C− |
| 2,176 | Marcellus MI | 1,045 | $53K | 16.4% | 6.0% | 9% | C− |
| 2,177 | Homestead Base FL | 1,125 | $8K | 87.7% | 21.6% | <1% | C− |
| 2,178 | Decatur Township OH | 1,307 | $73K | 14.1% | 19.4% | <1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Marcellus, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
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 Marcellus: questions
What is the median household income in Marcellus?
$52,917 (±$20,383) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marcellus?
16.4%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marcellus?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marcellus work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Marcellus Township (13%, 0 mi), Kalamazoo (5%, 21 mi), Three Rivers (5%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Marcellus walkable?
Marcellus is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marcellus 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 Marcellus, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marcellus
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.