More people are out of work in Reed City (10.9%) than in 96% of U.S. towns
About one in seven work in Reed City; the top destination outside it is Big Rapids (10%, 12 miles). Reed City grades D for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Measured by household income, Reed City is behind 85% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Reed City at work: what stands out
Reed City is where the jobs are
Reed City has 1,968 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,600 people are in town, 41% more than the 2,500 who live here. Day and night ↓
Reed City makes and builds things
62% of the jobs based in Reed City are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Reed City residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 25%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
40% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 942 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Reed City’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Reed City is better than 6% of U.S. towns, #685 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Reed City’s grade up (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
The commuting and job counts on this page are Census LEHD 2021: Michigan reports later than other states, so its newest year is three years behind.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Reed City could be anywhere from D− to C.
Who leaves Reed City for work, and who comes in
On a workday 782 residents head out to work, 160 work right here, and 1,808 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,600 people are in Reed City on a workday afternoon, 41% more than live here.
2.1 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
In Reed City, 62% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
1,968 jobs are based in Reed City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Reed City, 2011 → 2021: 1,575 → 1,968. 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 Reed City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Reed City goes to work
About 40% 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.
Where the people who work in Reed City live
Where Reed City clocks in
10% 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 21 minutes each way, quicker than most of Michigan
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Reed City workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 869 commuters (the 12% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Reed City
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Reed City is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns, #101 of 701 in Michigan. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 7.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 985 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). 14.2% of Reed City households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Reed City’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Reed City compares with U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Franklin MI | 3,134 | $194K | 2.8% | 2.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 129 | Village of Grosse Pointe Shores MI | 2,533 | $190K | 2.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 216 | Milton Township MI | 3,187 | $119K | 3.2% | 2.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,466 | Greensburg KY | 2,248 | $39K | 21.4% | 8.4% | 20% | D |
| 4,467 | Union City PA | 2,823 | $44K | 23.7% | 7.5% | 16% | D |
| 4,468 | Reed City MI | 2,528 | $52K | 19.9% | 10.9% | 17% | D |
| 4,469 | Granville NY | 2,416 | $47K | 20.7% | 6.6% | 12% | D |
| 4,470 | Jonesville NC | 2,356 | $30K | 18.7% | 7.7% | 7% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 61% | 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 Reed City, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
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 Reed City: questions
What is the median household income in Reed City?
$52,304 (±$3,550) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Reed City?
19.9%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Reed City?
21 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Reed City work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Big Rapids (10%, 12 mi), Grand Rapids (8%, 63 mi), Evart (7%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Reed City walkable?
Reed City is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Reed City without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Reed City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Reed City
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.