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Work & commute · Bear Lake

Work & commute in Bear Lake, MI

Most working residents leave Bear Lake for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Kalkaska (24%), Traverse City (10%) and Garfield (7%). Half commute less than 31 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times
Work in town
1%
3 of 201 working residents
Typical commute
31 mi
Half commute less than this, straight-line
Average commute time
25 min
One way, from the Census survey
Work from home
8%
of workers, from the Census survey
Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 198 Bear Lake residents head out of town to work, 3 work right here, and 41 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Bear Lake.

198live here, work elsewhere
3live and work here
41work here, live elsewhere
Leave for workStayCome in
The map

Where Bear Lake goes to work

GraylingGaylordPetoskeyTraverse CityAlpenaClearwaterElk RapidsKalkaskaOliverOrangeAcmeFredericGraylingGarfieldExcelsiorColdspringsEast BayGarfieldBear LakeBlue LakeMancelonaKalkaskaTraverse CityGarfieldGraylingEast BayExcelsiorGaylordPetoskeyElk RapidsAcmeBear Lake
1
Kalkaska15.7 mi away
24%48
2
Traverse City34.7 mi away
10%21
3
Garfield35.9 mi away
7%15
4
Grayling9.6 mi away
3%7
5
East Bay29.8 mi away
3%6
6
Excelsior7 mi away
2%5
7
Gaylord25.9 mi away
2%4
8
Petoskey47.6 mi away
2%4
9
Elk Rapids28.5 mi away
2%4
10
Acme28.5 mi away
2%4
Everywhere elseother towns and states
41%83

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Bear Lake commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

6%Under 10 mi
35%10–24 mi
37%25–50 mi
21%Over 50 mi
Job hub or commuter town?

Bear Lake is a commuter town

0.22jobs per working resident
A commuter town

0.22 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Bear Lake are

44 jobs are based in Bear Lake. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Bear Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Bear Lake

44 jobs
Goods (factories, building, farms)0%
Trade, transport & utilities7%
Services (health, schools, offices…)93%
$1,250 a month or less50%
$1,251–$3,333 a month45%
Over $3,333 a month5%

Jobs Bear Lake residents hold

201 working residents
Goods (factories, building, farms)27%
Trade, transport & utilities20%
Services (health, schools, offices…)53%
$1,250 a month or less21%
$1,251–$3,333 a month31%
Over $3,333 a month48%
+214%

Jobs based in Bear Lake, 2011 → 2021: 14 → 44. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.
Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.
Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2021. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2021, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.

The door’s open

Where to, neighbor?

You’re in Bear Lake, MIKalkaska CountyView boundary

Nearby

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Bear Lake is your selected town. The feed includes posts assigned to this town, not a distance radius or ZIP code.

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/15 · 2025-01-01
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