Smith-Culhane House · Photo: Doug Kerr (Dougtone) · CC BY-SA 2.0Most of Port Austin Township commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Port Austin Township report 159 jobs, against 456 working residents. The two grades for Port Austin Township are D for jobs and income and B for walkability. Measured by household income, Port Austin Township is behind 83% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Port Austin Township at work: what stands out
Inside Port Austin Township’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Port Austin Township is better than 7% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Port Austin Township’s grade up (14.3%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.3%) is left out: Port Austin 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, Port Austin Township could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Port Austin Township
About 39% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Port Austin Township
On a workday 402 residents head out to work, 54 work right here, and 105 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Port Austin Township on a workday afternoon, 22% 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.
12% of working residents work in Bad Axe
Where Port Austin 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.
What Port Austin Township’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Port Austin Township, 2011 → 2021: 177 → 159. 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 Port Austin Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Port Austin Township: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Port Austin Township workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 610 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.
Port Austin Township is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Port Austin Township is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 6.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 656 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). 8.5% of Port Austin Township households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Port Austin Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Port Austin Township is 4,693rd among 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 87 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 139 | Dimondale MI | 1,183 | $111K | 3.2% | 4.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 168 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,691 | Clay City Township IL | 1,093 | $63K | 24.7% | 5.4% | 6% | D |
| 4,692 | Charlemont MA | 1,163 | $53K | 14.3% | 7.5% | 9% | D |
| 4,693 | Port Austin Township MI | 1,347 | $54K | 14.3% | 1.3% | 12% | D |
| 4,694 | Columbia Township OH | 1,189 | $59K | 22.4% | 0.0% | <1% | D |
| 4,695 | Shell Knob MO | 1,486 | $55K | 14.7% | 8.4% | 5% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | 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 Port Austin Township, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
How Port Austin Township compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Hume Township (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Port Austin Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port Austin Township | – | D | B | 24 min | $53,750 |
| Hume Township | 4% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| Huron Township | under 2% | — | — | 34 min | — |
| Dwight Township | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Hume Township, Huron Township and Dwight Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Port Austin 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 Port Austin Township: questions
What is the median household income in Port Austin Township?
$53,750 (±$14,244) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Port Austin Township?
14.3%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Port Austin Township?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Port Austin Township work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bad Axe (12%, 19 mi), Winsor Township (9%, 26 mi), Colfax Township (9%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Port Austin Township walkable?
Port Austin Township is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Port Austin Township without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Port Austin Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Port Austin 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.