Work & commute · Bear Lake

Work & commute in Bear Lake, MI

Most working residents leave Bear Lake for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Manistee (10%), Frankfort (7%) and Traverse City (7%). Half commute less than 14 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

2 of 91 working residents

Typical commute

14 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

26 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 89 Bear Lake residents head out of town to work, 2 work right here, and 53 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Bear Lake.

89live here, work elsewhere

2live and work here

53work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Bear Lake goes to work

Manistee10.6 mi away

10%9

Frankfort15.6 mi away

7%6

Traverse City35.3 mi away

7%6

Arcadia4.7 mi away

7%6

Manistee15.1 mi away

5%5

Onekama4.7 mi away

4%4

Bear Lake2.8 mi away

4%4

Weldon12 mi away

4%4

Cleon13.2 mi away

4%4

Benzonia16.5 mi away

3%3

Everywhere elseother towns and states

44%40

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.

26%

42%

13%

19%

26%Under 10 mi

42%10–24 mi

13%25–50 mi

19%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Bear Lake is a commuter town

0.60jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Bear Lake are

55 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

55 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)0%

Trade, transport & utilities0%

Services (health, schools, offices…)100%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month40%

Over $3,333 a month42%

Jobs Bear Lake residents hold

91 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)20%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)59%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month40%

Over $3,333 a month46%

−81%

Jobs based in Bear Lake, 2011 → 2021: 287 → 55. 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.