A job hub: Powers has 2.0 jobs per working resident, and 273 people come in to work
1% of workers have no commute at all, against 14% across Michigan. Employers in Powers report 278 jobs; 140 of its residents have a job. Only 4% work in Powers itself; outside it, Harris Township draws the most (13%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who leaves Powers for work, and who comes in
On a workday 135 residents head out to work and 5 work right here.
About 510 people are in Powers on a workday afternoon, 37% more 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.
The towns that send workers to Powers
Where Powers clocks in
10% of workers
9% 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.
The kinds of work in Powers
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Powers, 2011 → 2021: 21 → 278. 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 Powers’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Powers spends getting to work: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Powers workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 91 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 Powers works
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.
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 Powers: questions
What is the median household income in Powers?
$35,417 (±$10,587) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Powers?
15.4%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Powers?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Powers work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Harris Township (13%, 11 mi), Escanaba (10%, 22 mi), Iron Mountain (9%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Can you get around Powers without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 34% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Powers, from the people who make the trip.
More of Powers
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.