TownTapestry
Sign inJoin
CharlestonGood night
Work & commute · Charleston

Work & commute in Charleston, MI

Most working residents leave Charleston for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Kalamazoo (15%), Portage (11%) and Battle Creek (10%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times
Work in town
2%
19 of 797 working residents
Typical commute
11 mi
Half commute less than this, straight-line
Average commute time
20 min
One way, from the Census survey
Work from home
5%
of workers, from the Census survey
Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 778 Charleston residents head out of town to work, 19 work right here, and 1,920 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Charleston.

778live here, work elsewhere
19live and work here
1,920work here, live elsewhere
Leave for workStayCome in
The map

Where Charleston goes to work

AugustaGalesburgKalamazooGrand RapidsBattle CreekPortageClimaxEmmettKalamazooRichlandRossOshtemoTexasSchoolcraftComstockCharlestonKalamazooPortageBattle CreekComstockKalamazooSchoolcraftRichlandOshtemoTexasCharleston
1
Kalamazoo12.4 mi away
15%120
2
Portage14.2 mi away
11%88
3
Battle Creek6 mi away
10%81
4
Comstock6.3 mi away
8%61
5
Kalamazoo14 mi away
4%28
6
Schoolcraft17.6 mi away
3%20
7
Richland8.6 mi away
2%19
8
Oshtemo18.3 mi away
2%19
9
Charleston (in town)right here
2%19
10
Texas19.3 mi away
2%16
Everywhere elseother towns and states
41%326

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

How far

How far Charleston commutes

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

40%Under 10 mi
35%10–24 mi
9%25–50 mi
16%Over 50 mi
Job hub or commuter town?

Charleston is a job hub

2.43jobs per working resident
A job hub

2.4 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Charleston are

1,939 jobs are based in Charleston. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Charleston’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Charleston

1,939 jobs
Goods (factories, building, farms)20%
Trade, transport & utilities73%
Services (health, schools, offices…)7%
$1,250 a month or less15%
$1,251–$3,333 a month35%
Over $3,333 a month50%

Jobs Charleston residents hold

797 working residents
Goods (factories, building, farms)30%
Trade, transport & utilities20%
Services (health, schools, offices…)50%
$1,250 a month or less16%
$1,251–$3,333 a month27%
Over $3,333 a month58%
+14%

Jobs based in Charleston, 2011 → 2021: 1,708 → 1,939. 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.

We left the porch light on

Where to, neighbor?

You’re in Charleston, MIKalamazoo CountyView boundary

Nearby

All towns & citiesExplore the map

Local begins with a boundary.

See what belongs to your selected town.

Loading boundary…

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

Neighborhoods narrow the feed further, while townwide announcements, events, and issues remain visible.

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