Photo: Gpwitteveen · CC BY-SA 3.0Suttons Bay has 2.1 jobs for every working resident: 450 people commute in to work
Working from home is the commute for 34% of workers (Michigan 14%). 474 jobs are based in Suttons Bay, and 228 of its residents work somewhere. About one in ten stay in Suttons Bay for work; outside it, Traverse City is the main destination (18%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Suttons Bay: the gist
From Suttons Bay, about 20 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Suttons Bay workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 129 commuters (the 34% 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.
Suttons Bay fills up on a workday
On a workday 204 residents head out to work and 24 work right here.
About 830 people are in Suttons Bay on a workday afternoon, 42% 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 Suttons Bay
Where Suttons Bay clocks in
18% of workers
17% of workers
11% 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.
Jobs in Suttons Bay: what the 474 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Suttons Bay, 2011 → 2021: 269 → 474. 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 Suttons Bay’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Suttons Bay goes to work
About 28% 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 Suttons Bay: questions
What is the median household income in Suttons Bay?
$125,357 (±$27,796) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Suttons Bay?
9.2%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Suttons Bay?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 34% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Suttons Bay work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Traverse City (18%, 16 mi), Suttons Bay Township (17%, 1 mi), Leland Township (11%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Can you get around Suttons Bay without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Suttons Bay, from the people who make the trip.
More of Suttons Bay
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.