Work & commute · Brooks

Work & commute in Brooks, MI

Most working residents leave Brooks for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Grand Rapids (13%), Newaygo (9%) and Walker (4%). Half commute less than 28 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

16 of 1,547 working residents

Typical commute

28 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

34 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

11%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 1,531 Brooks residents head out of town to work, 16 work right here, and 202 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Brooks.

1,531live here, work elsewhere

16live and work here

202work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Brooks goes to work

Grand Rapids32.1 mi away

13%194

Newaygo3.6 mi away

9%139

Walker29.5 mi away

4%68

Fremont11.7 mi away

4%63

Kentwood37.8 mi away

3%54

Sparta18 mi away

3%46

Muskegon29.9 mi away

3%39

Grant7.4 mi away

2%36

Cascade38.2 mi away

2%29

Wyoming36.8 mi away

2%28

Everywhere elseother towns and states

55%851

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

How far

How far Brooks commutes

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

22%

19%

42%

16%

22%Under 10 mi

19%10–24 mi

42%25–50 mi

16%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Brooks is a commuter town

0.14jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Brooks are

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

Jobs based in Brooks

218 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)5%

Trade, transport & utilities6%

Services (health, schools, offices…)89%

$1,250 a month or less34%

$1,251–$3,333 a month44%

Over $3,333 a month22%

Jobs Brooks residents hold

1,547 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)32%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)49%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month31%

Over $3,333 a month52%

−73%

Jobs based in Brooks, 2011 → 2021: 815 → 218. 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.