Spring Arbor Township has lower unemployment (2.1%) than 83% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 7% of workers, against 14% across Michigan. Jobs and income earn Spring Arbor Township A−; getting around on foot earns it B+. Only 7% work in Spring Arbor Township; the top destination outside it is Jackson (20%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Spring Arbor Township in brief
The four measures behind Spring Arbor Township’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Spring Arbor Township is better than 78% of U.S. towns, #161 of 701 in Michigan. Unemployment is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 57% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate 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, Spring Arbor Township could be anywhere from B to A.
What the 1,754 jobs in Spring Arbor Township are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spring Arbor Township, 2011 → 2021: 1,184 → 1,754. 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 Spring Arbor Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Spring Arbor Township on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,759 residents head out to work, 221 work right here, and 1,533 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,300 people are in Spring Arbor Township on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.59 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Out of Spring Arbor Township to work: where people go
Where Spring Arbor Township clocks in
20% 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.
Getting to work from Spring Arbor Township takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spring Arbor Township workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,524 commuters (the 7% 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 Spring Arbor Township commutes less than 10 miles
About 20% 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 Spring Arbor Township, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Spring Arbor Township is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns, #130 of 701 in Michigan. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 11.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 6.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,800 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). 2.2% of Spring Arbor Township households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Spring Arbor Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Spring Arbor Township places 852nd of 2,922 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 6,000 to 11,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Grosse Pointe Farms MI | 9,735 | $161K | 2.5% | 1.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 850 | Linwood NJ | 7,051 | $156K | 2.0% | 7.4% | 7% | A− |
| 851 | Middlebury Township IN | 9,003 | $89K | 7.7% | 2.1% | 27% | A− |
| 852 | Spring Arbor Township MI | 8,526 | $87K | 6.5% | 2.1% | 7% | A− |
| 853 | Tiburon CA | 8,881 | $233K | 1.9% | 10.5% | 5% | A− |
| 854 | Brighton MI | 7,904 | $81K | 8.1% | 2.9% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,922 | 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 Spring Arbor Township, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Next door is work for 12% of Spring Arbor Township
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Spring Arbor Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Arbor Township | – | A− | B+ | 21 min | $87,316 |
| Summit Township | 7% | C+ | C | 19 min | $65,987 |
| Concord Township | 2% | C+ | C− | 24 min | $64,148 |
| Hanover Township | under 2% | A− | D | 29 min | $81,477 |
| Sandstone Township | 3% | A− | D | 26 min | $97,708 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Summit Township. Darker towns draw more of Spring Arbor 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 Spring Arbor Township: questions
What is the median household income in Spring Arbor Township?
$87,316 (±$10,138) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spring Arbor Township?
6.5%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spring Arbor Township?
21 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Spring Arbor Township work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jackson (20%, 7 mi), Blackman Township (10%, 8 mi), Summit Township (7%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Spring Arbor Township walkable?
Spring Arbor Township is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spring Arbor 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 Spring Arbor Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spring Arbor 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.