Household incomes in Portage are higher than in 60% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Portage B+; getting around on foot earns it B−. Below the poverty line: 7.1% of residents, where Michigan as a whole has 13.2%. About one in five work in Portage itself; outside it, Kalamazoo draws the most (24%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Portage apart on work
A lot of Portage works one town over
29% of working residents work in a town that borders Portage: Kalamazoo (24%), Texas Township (3%) and Schoolcraft Township (2%). Next door ↓
Most Portage residents work close to home
65% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Portage makes and builds things
35% of the jobs based in Portage are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Portage residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 23%. 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.
Inside Portage’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Portage is better than 68% of U.S. towns, #255 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Portage’s grade up (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (4.3%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
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, poverty and unemployment, Portage could be anywhere from B to A−.
How far Portage goes to work
About 17% 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 Portage, 35% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
26,678 jobs are based in Portage.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Portage, 2011 → 2021: 23,438 → 26,678. 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 Portage’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Portage
On a workday 15,613 residents head out to work, 4,458 work right here, and 22,220 people come in from elsewhere.
About 56,000 people are in Portage on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.33 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2021, primary jobs.
The places Portage commutes to
Where Portage clocks in
24% of workers
4% 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.
About 20 minutes to work from Portage
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Portage workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 22,172 commuters (the 14% 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.
In Portage, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Portage is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns, #252 of 701 in Michigan. Both inputs place Portage 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 25,692 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). 5.0% of Portage households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Portage’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Portage ranks: 444th of 887 U.S. towns of 35,000 to 67,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| 3 | Oakton VA | 36,528 | $161K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Bloomfield Township MI | 43,904 | $163K | 4.8% | 3.6% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 75 | Independence Township MI | 37,725 | $115K | 4.3% | 2.9% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 139 | Meridian Township MI | 44,869 | $87K | 13.1% | 3.6% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 442 | Woodbridge VA | 43,945 | $105K | 9.0% | 6.5% | 6% | B+ |
| 443 | Brentwood CA | 66,607 | $142K | 8.3% | 5.8% | 13% | B+ |
| 444 | Portage MI | 49,862 | $83K | 7.1% | 4.3% | 22% | B+ |
| 445 | Cuyahoga Falls OH | 50,975 | $73K | 10.5% | 3.2% | 13% | B+ |
| 446 | St. Clair Shores MI | 57,872 | $74K | 8.4% | 4.4% | 9% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 887 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Portage, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
29% of Portage works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Portage workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portage | – | B+ | B− | 20 min | $83,212 |
| Kalamazoo | 24% | C | A | 19 min | $52,272 |
| Pavilion Township | under 2% | B− | D | 25 min | $83,750 |
| Texas Township | 3% | A− | C− | 21 min | $147,128 |
| Schoolcraft Township | 2% | B+ | C− | 22 min | $80,590 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Kalamazoo. Darker towns draw more of Portage’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 Portage: questions
What is the median household income in Portage?
$83,212 (±$4,451) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Portage?
7.1%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Portage?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Portage work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kalamazoo (24%, 5 mi), Oshtemo Township (4%, 9 mi), Kalamazoo Township (4%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Portage walkable?
Portage is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Portage without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Portage, from the people who make the trip.
More of Portage
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.