Photo: Aaron Smith · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Three Rivers (10.2%) than in 95% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are lower than in 88% of U.S. towns. Three Rivers grades C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers; Michigan has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Three Rivers apart
No single place dominates Three Rivers’ commute
The biggest draw, Kalamazoo, gets only 5% of working residents, and 52% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Three Rivers residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Three Rivers makes and builds things
45% of the jobs based in Three Rivers are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Three Rivers residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 40%. The jobs ↓
Few Three Rivers workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 14% across Michigan. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Three Rivers are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Three Rivers
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Three Rivers is better than 16% of U.S. towns, #631 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Three Rivers’ grade up (ahead of 58% 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 two years behind.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Three Rivers could be anywhere from D to C.
5% of working residents work in Kalamazoo
Where Three Rivers clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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.
Three Rivers makes things: 45% of its jobs are in goods
4,588 jobs are based in Three Rivers.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Three Rivers, 2011 → 2021: 4,648 → 4,588. 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 Three Rivers’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Three Rivers: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Three Rivers workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,460 commuters (the 4% 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.
Who works in Three Rivers, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 2,685 residents head out to work, 756 work right here, and 3,832 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,100 people are in Three Rivers on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.33 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.
Where in the region Three Rivers works
About 18% 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.
Most trips from Three Rivers start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Three Rivers is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns, #118 of 701 in Michigan. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 7.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,601 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). 10.2% of Three Rivers households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Three Rivers’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Three Rivers is 2,717th among 3,069 U.S. towns of 5,500 to 10,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Grosse Pointe Farms MI | 9,735 | $161K | 2.5% | 1.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,715 | Beaver Falls PA | 8,832 | $50K | 20.9% | 9.5% | 12% | C− |
| 2,716 | Riverdale IL | 10,280 | $40K | 41.5% | 16.1% | 2% | C− |
| 2,717 | Three Rivers MI | 7,910 | $50K | 15.0% | 10.2% | 22% | C− |
| 2,718 | Waynesville MO | 5,558 | $57K | 16.5% | 5.1% | 17% | C− |
| 2,719 | Herkimer NY | 7,195 | $49K | 26.4% | 5.5% | 17% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,069 | 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 Three Rivers, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Work in the towns next to Three Rivers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Three Rivers workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Three Rivers | – | C− | B+ | 19 min | $49,503 |
| Lockport Township | under 2% | C | D | 24 min | $73,929 |
| Fabius Township | under 2% | B | D− | 24 min | $95,875 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Three Rivers’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 Three Rivers: questions
What is the median household income in Three Rivers?
$49,503 (±$6,018) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Three Rivers?
15.0%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Three Rivers?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Three Rivers work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kalamazoo (5%, 23 mi), Portage (4%, 18 mi), Elkhart (4%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Three Rivers walkable?
Three Rivers is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Three Rivers without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Three Rivers, from the people who make the trip.
More of Three Rivers
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.