With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Wise Township works elsewhere
For jobs and income Wise Township is better than 40% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns (D). Employers in Wise Township report 87 jobs, against 532 working residents. Hardly any work in Wise Township itself; outside it, Mount Pleasant draws the most (19%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Wise Township at work: what stands out
The four measures behind Wise Township’s grade
The poverty rate holds Wise Township’s grade up (8.4%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 33% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.0%) is left out: Wise Township’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
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 and poverty, Wise Township could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Who commutes out of Wise Township, and who commutes in
On a workday 527 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 82 people come in from elsewhere.
About 940 people are in Wise Township on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer 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.
Commuting out of Wise Township: the destinations
Where Wise Township clocks in
19% of workers
8% 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.
Goods, not services: 41% of the jobs in Wise Township
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wise Township, 2011 → 2021: 27 → 87. 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 Wise Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Wise Township’s commute takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wise Township workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 496 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.
The distance from Wise Township to work
About 21% 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.
Wise Township is a driving town
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 0.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 3.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 536 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). 7.7% of Wise Township households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wise Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Wise Township ranks: 2,630th of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 93 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 152 | Dimondale MI | 1,183 | $111K | 3.2% | 4.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 187 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,628 | Clark Township IN | 1,895 | $77K | 11.0% | 0.9% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,629 | Dixmont ME | 1,215 | $76K | 7.9% | 3.2% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,630 | Wise Township MI | 1,385 | $68K | 8.4% | 4.0% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,631 | Frohn Township MN | 1,582 | $90K | 11.3% | 5.2% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,632 | Smithfield Township PA | 1,465 | $78K | 8.1% | 5.7% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Wise Township, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Wise Township and its neighbors
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wise Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wise Township | – | C+ | D | 25 min | $68,125 |
| Vernon Township | under 2% | B− | D | 28 min | $80,706 |
| Sheridan Township | under 2% | D | B− | 27 min | $64,135 |
| Warren Township | under 2% | C | C− | 30 min | $72,750 |
| Denver Township | under 2% | D | D | 26 min | $61,912 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Wise 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 Wise Township: questions
What is the median household income in Wise Township?
$68,125 (±$14,388) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wise Township?
8.4%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wise Township?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wise Township work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mount Pleasant (19%, 14 mi), Chippewa Township (13%, 13 mi), Midland (8%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Wise Township walkable?
Wise Township is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 3.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wise Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wise Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wise 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.