Work & commute · Blair

Work & commute in Blair, MI

Most working residents leave Blair for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Traverse City (36%), Garfield (18%) and Green Lake (4%). Half commute less than 8 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

147 of 3,766 working residents

Typical commute

8 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

19 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 3,619 Blair residents head out of town to work, 147 work right here, and 1,507 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Blair.

3,619live here, work elsewhere

147live and work here

1,507work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Blair goes to work

Traverse City8.7 mi away

36%1,356

Garfield6.7 mi away

18%664

Blair (in town)right here

4%147

Green Lake6.8 mi away

4%138

East Bay6.9 mi away

3%116

Elmwood13.8 mi away

2%60

Suttons Bay25.3 mi away

2%59

Grand Rapids115.3 mi away

2%57

Long Lake8.8 mi away

1%40

Kalkaska21.1 mi away

1%34

Everywhere elseother towns and states

29%1,095

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

How far

How far Blair commutes

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

66%

22%

66%Under 10 mi

8%10–24 mi

4%25–50 mi

22%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Blair is a commuter town

0.44jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Blair are

1,654 jobs are based in Blair. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Blair’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Blair

1,654 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)42%

Trade, transport & utilities27%

Services (health, schools, offices…)31%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month35%

Over $3,333 a month50%

Jobs Blair residents hold

3,766 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)17%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)62%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month33%

Over $3,333 a month51%

+289%

Jobs based in Blair, 2011 → 2021: 425 → 1,654. 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.