Jobs, income and commuting in Mills Township, MI
7% of workers have no commute at all (Michigan 14%). Jobs and income earn Mills Township C; getting around on foot earns it D. Only 1% stay in Mills Township for work; outside it, Midland is the main destination (39%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Mills Township, in brief
39% of Mills Township works in Midland
238 working residents, 39%, have their main job in Midland, 11 miles away. That’s 39 times as many as work in Mills Township itself. The commute map ↓
Mills Township workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 34 minutes each way, against 24 across Michigan. Over a year that’s about 261 hours of commuting, 77 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
The jobs in Mills Township pay better than its residents’ jobs
72% of the jobs based in Mills Township pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 52% of the jobs Mills Township residents hold. 98% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Mills Township. 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 611 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Mills Township earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Mills Township is better than 31% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Mills Township’s grade up ($71,607, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.5%) is left out: Mills Township’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, Mills Township could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Commuting out of Mills Township: the destinations
Where Mills Township clocks in
39% of workers
3% 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.
From Mills Township, about 34 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mills Township workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 708 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Mills Township
417 jobs are based in Mills Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mills Township, 2011 → 2021: 60 → 417. 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 Mills Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Mills Township, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 602 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 408 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Mills Township on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.68 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Mills Township
About 21% 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.
Few in Mills Township walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mills Township is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 3.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 762 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). 1.2% of Mills Township households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Mills Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,130th of 5,343: where Mills Township ranks among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 203 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 244 | Sylvan Lake MI | 1,685 | $106K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,128 | Parkwood CA | 1,758 | $62K | 20.8% | 15.8% | 1% | C |
| 3,129 | Starbuck MN | 1,406 | $73K | 10.3% | 2.8% | 10% | C |
| 3,130 | Mills Township MI | 1,807 | $72K | 11.6% | 4.5% | 1% | C |
| 3,131 | West Canton NC | 1,412 | $34K | 7.9% | 6.1% | <1% | C |
| 3,132 | Dillingham AK | 2,075 | $101K | 11.1% | 6.1% | — | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | 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 Mills Township, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Next door to Mills Township
The biggest share goes to Larkin Township (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mills Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mills Township | – | C | D | 34 min | $71,607 |
| Hope Township | under 2% | B | C | 28 min | $101,205 |
| Bentley Township | under 2% | — | — | 37 min | — |
| Larkin Township | 2% | A | C+ | 19 min | $143,427 |
| Garfield Township | under 2% | B+ | C− | 28 min | $96,571 |
Same-state neighbors only. Bentley Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mills 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 Mills Township: questions
What is the median household income in Mills Township?
$71,607 (±$10,093) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mills Township?
11.6%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mills Township?
34 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mills Township work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Midland (39%, 11 mi), Saginaw Township (3%, 25 mi), Saginaw (3%, 29 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Mills Township walkable?
Mills Township is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 3.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mills Township without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mills Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mills 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.