Richard and Mary Woodward Gregory House · Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Ross Township commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Ross Township has 959 jobs; 2,021 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Ross Township A−; getting around on foot earns it C−. For 26% of workers, the job is at home, next to 14% for Michigan as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Ross Township apart on work
A lot of Ross Township works from home
26% of Ross Township workers work from home, against 14% across Michigan. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Ross Township
61% of Ross Township residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 40% of the jobs based in Ross Township pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 95% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Ross Township pay little
28% of the jobs based in Ross Township pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 35% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. 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.
The figures behind Ross Township’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ross Township is better than 76% of U.S. towns, #185 of 701 in Michigan. The poverty rate holds Ross Township’s grade up (3.3%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down (5.0%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
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, Ross Township could be anywhere from B− to A+.
Ross Township’s commute takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ross Township workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,843 commuters (the 26% 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 Ross Township, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ross Township, 2011 → 2021: 1,051 → 959. 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 Ross Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Ross Township
On a workday 1,925 residents head out to work, 96 work right here, and 863 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,800 people are in Ross 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.
17% of working residents work in Kalamazoo
Where Ross Township clocks in
17% of workers
14% 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 commute from Ross Township, by distance
About 16% 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.
Getting around Ross Township: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ross Township is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns, #458 of 701 in Michigan. Both inputs place Ross Township 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 2,476 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). 2.0% of Ross Township households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ross Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ross Township next to U.S. towns of 3,400 to 6,600: 998th of 3,840 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Northville MI | 6,013 | $146K | 2.8% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 129 | Vergennes Township MI | 4,968 | $113K | 1.5% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 996 | Caledonia NY | 4,099 | $79K | 4.8% | 2.9% | 12% | A− |
| 997 | West Brunswick Township PA | 3,501 | $119K | 2.5% | 5.3% | 8% | A− |
| 998 | Ross Township MI | 4,891 | $104K | 3.3% | 5.0% | 5% | A− |
| 999 | Chanceford Township PA | 6,025 | $94K | 2.5% | 4.3% | 4% | A− |
| 1,000 | Wayne Township PA | 5,385 | $98K | 6.2% | 2.7% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,840 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Ross Township, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Work in the towns next to Ross Township
The biggest share goes to Richland Township (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ross Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ross Township | – | A− | C− | 25 min | $103,932 |
| Charleston Township | under 2% | B+ | D | 20 min | $82,308 |
| Richland Township | 5% | A | C | 26 min | $106,470 |
| Bedford Township | 2% | C | D | 19 min | $67,695 |
| Augusta | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Barry Township | under 2% | B+ | B− | 28 min | $91,071 |
Same-state neighbors only. Augusta: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ross 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 Ross Township: questions
What is the median household income in Ross Township?
$103,932 (±$24,091) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ross Township?
3.3%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ross Township?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ross Township work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kalamazoo (17%, 14 mi), Battle Creek (14%, 9 mi), Portage (8%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Ross Township walkable?
Ross Township is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ross Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ross Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ross 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.