Households in Wheeler Township earn less than those in 72% of U.S. towns
5% of workers work from home, against 14% across Michigan. The poverty rate is 12.3%; Michigan has 13.2%. Wheeler Township grades C for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Wheeler Township apart on work
Where Wheeler Township’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wheeler Township is better than 29% of U.S. towns, #554 of 701 in Michigan. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Wheeler Township’s grade.
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, Wheeler Township could be anywhere from D to B−.
What Wheeler Township’s employers do
801 jobs are based in Wheeler Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wheeler Township, 2011 → 2021: 766 → 801. 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 Wheeler Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 844 residents head out to work, 110 work right here, and 691 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 (0.84 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.
8% of working residents work in Midland
Where Wheeler Township clocks in
8% of workers
8% of workers
5% 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 Wheeler Township takes about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wheeler Township workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,094 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.
Wheeler Township’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Most trips from Wheeler Township start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wheeler Township is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns, #238 of 701 in Michigan. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 5.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,150 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). 5.2% of Wheeler Township households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wheeler Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Wheeler Township is 3,415th of 5,083 U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Franklin MI | 3,134 | $194K | 2.8% | 2.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 136 | Village of Grosse Pointe Shores MI | 2,533 | $190K | 2.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 230 | Milton Township MI | 3,187 | $119K | 3.2% | 2.3% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,413 | Landrum SC | 2,865 | $44K | 19.5% | 2.7% | 9% | C |
| 3,414 | Timber Township IL | 2,234 | $74K | 14.1% | 7.4% | 6% | C |
| 3,415 | Wheeler Township MI | 2,569 | $61K | 12.3% | 4.9% | 12% | C |
| 3,416 | Sherwood Township MI | 1,983 | $65K | 9.9% | 6.1% | 1% | C |
| 3,417 | New Lebanon NY | 2,477 | $76K | 10.7% | 5.1% | 14% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Wheeler Township, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Work in the towns next to Wheeler Township
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wheeler Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheeler Township | – | C | B− | 27 min | $61,149 |
| Bethany Township | under 2% | B+ | C+ | 23 min | $80,461 |
| Porter Township | under 2% | C+ | D− | 34 min | $76,316 |
| Lafayette Township | under 2% | — | — | 35 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Lafayette Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Wheeler 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 Wheeler Township: questions
What is the median household income in Wheeler Township?
$61,149 (±$4,751) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wheeler Township?
12.3%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wheeler Township?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wheeler Township work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Midland (8%, 17 mi), Alma (8%, 12 mi), St. Louis (5%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Wheeler Township walkable?
Wheeler Township is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wheeler Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wheeler Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wheeler 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.