Photo: Lonepointe · CC BY-SA 3.0At 8.3%, unemployment in Sparta Township is higher than in 89% of U.S. towns
About one in seven stay in Sparta Township for work; outside it, Grand Rapids is the main destination (20%, 14 miles). The two grades for Sparta Township are C+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Working residents average 23 minutes each way, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Sparta Township
Sparta Township trades workers with the towns around it
Sparta Township has about as many jobs (3,710) as working residents (3,943), but they are mostly different people: 3,460 residents leave for work each day while 3,227 people come in. Only 13% of the jobs in Sparta Township are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Sparta Township makes and builds things
50% of the jobs based in Sparta Township are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Sparta Township residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 30%. 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.
How Sparta Township earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sparta Township is better than 43% of U.S. towns, #459 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Sparta Township’s grade up (ahead of 72% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
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 rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sparta Township could be anywhere from C to A−.
Sparta Township by day and by night
On a workday 3,460 residents head out to work, 483 work right here, and 3,227 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.94 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.
A place that makes things: 50% of Sparta Township’s jobs are in goods
3,710 jobs are based in Sparta Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sparta Township, 2011 → 2021: 3,118 → 3,710. 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 Sparta Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The places Sparta Township commutes to
Where Sparta 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.
Getting to work from Sparta Township takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sparta Township workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,067 commuters (the 13% 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.
Half of Sparta Township commutes less than 14 miles
About 15% 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.
Few in Sparta Township walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sparta Township is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns, #265 of 701 in Michigan. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 5.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,672 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.0% of Sparta Township households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Sparta Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sparta Township next to U.S. towns of 6,700 to 13,000: 1,850th of 2,816 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Grosse Pointe Farms MI | 9,735 | $161K | 2.5% | 1.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Jamestown Township MI | 10,702 | $120K | 2.8% | 1.1% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,848 | Purcell OK | 7,030 | $63K | 14.0% | 4.0% | 14% | C+ |
| 1,849 | Portage WI | 9,956 | $65K | 13.5% | 3.7% | 29% | C+ |
| 1,850 | Sparta Township MI | 9,617 | $76K | 10.8% | 8.3% | 12% | C+ |
| 1,851 | Hampstead NC | 9,292 | $92K | 9.5% | 6.3% | 6% | C+ |
| 1,852 | Mount Pleasant IA | 8,500 | $61K | 15.7% | 1.7% | 44% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,816 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Sparta Township, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Sparta Township and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Alpine Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sparta Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sparta Township | – | C+ | B− | 23 min | $76,346 |
| Algoma Township | under 2% | A+ | C− | 28 min | $123,078 |
| Tyrone Township | 1% | C+ | C− | 27 min | $69,773 |
| Alpine Township | 3% | B− | C+ | 21 min | $67,807 |
| Chester Township | under 2% | B+ | C− | 28 min | $79,875 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sparta 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 Sparta Township: questions
What is the median household income in Sparta Township?
$76,346 (±$4,522) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sparta Township?
10.8%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sparta Township?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sparta Township work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grand Rapids (20%, 14 mi), Walker (8%, 12 mi), Wyoming (5%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Sparta Township walkable?
Sparta Township is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sparta Township without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sparta Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sparta 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.