Wayland Downtown Historic District · Photo: Gpwitteveen · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer people are out of work in Wayland (3.1%) than in 68% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 5% of workers, next to 14% for Michigan as a whole. Wayland grades B+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Only 7% stay in Wayland for work; outside it, Grand Rapids is the main destination (10%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Wayland
Job access by car holds Wayland’s grade up (ahead of 81% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($74,464, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
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, Wayland could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Who works in Wayland, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,823 residents head out to work, 146 work right here, and 1,304 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,000 people are in Wayland on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.74 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.
Where people from Wayland work
Where Wayland 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.
Jobs in Wayland: what the 1,450 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wayland, 2011 → 2021: 1,235 → 1,450. 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 Wayland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 22 minutes from Wayland
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wayland workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,190 commuters (the 5% 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.
Wayland’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Wayland is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wayland is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #73 of 701 in Michigan. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 7.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,314 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). 0.8% of Wayland households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Wayland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Wayland places 1,285th of 3,862 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 3,200 to 6,100
| # | 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 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Northville MI | 6,013 | $146K | 2.8% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 114 | Vergennes Township MI | 4,968 | $113K | 1.5% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 118 | Ann Arbor Township MI | 4,506 | $165K | 7.2% | 0.5% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,283 | Lely FL | 3,804 | $70K | 7.8% | 2.1% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,284 | Marietta-Alderwood WA | 3,754 | $76K | 7.9% | 2.6% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,285 | Wayland MI | 4,531 | $74K | 9.9% | 3.1% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,286 | Collegeville PA | 5,287 | $91K | 7.1% | 6.7% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,287 | Paint Township OH | 3,498 | $86K | 17.5% | 0.0% | 15% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,862 | 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 Wayland, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Wayland and its neighbors
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wayland workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wayland | – | B+ | A− | 22 min | $74,464 |
| Leighton Township | under 3% | A+ | C− | 25 min | $103,888 |
| Wayland Township | 5% | A− | C− | 27 min | $91,383 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Wayland Township. Darker towns draw more of Wayland’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 Wayland: questions
What is the median household income in Wayland?
$74,464 (±$11,752) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wayland?
9.9%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wayland?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wayland work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grand Rapids (10%, 20 mi), Wyoming (7%, 15 mi), Byron Township (6%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Wayland walkable?
Wayland is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wayland without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wayland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wayland
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.