Mecosta has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Employers in Mecosta report 25 jobs; 122 of its residents have a job. Hardly any stay in Mecosta for work; outside it, Big Rapids is the main destination (19%, 14 miles). For 1% of workers, the job is at 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
The daily flow of workers through Mecosta
On a workday 121 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 24 people come in from elsewhere.
About 390 people are in Mecosta on a workday afternoon, 20% 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.
Where people from Mecosta work
Where Mecosta clocks in
19% 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 Mecosta’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mecosta, 2011 → 2021: 7 → 25. 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 Mecosta’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Mecosta spends getting to work: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mecosta workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 194 commuters (the 1% 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 Mecosta works
About 38% 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 Mecosta: questions
What is the median household income in Mecosta?
$73,516 (±$14,498) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mecosta?
18.5%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mecosta?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mecosta work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Big Rapids (19%, 14 mi), Grand Rapids (8%, 50 mi), Morton Township (6%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Can you get around Mecosta without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mecosta, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mecosta
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.