Work & commute · East Bay

Work & commute in East Bay, MI

Most working residents leave East Bay for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Traverse City (38%), Garfield (16%) and Blair (2%). Half commute less than 7 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

210 of 4,712 working residents

Typical commute

7 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

20 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

16%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 4,502 East Bay residents head out of town to work, 210 work right here, and 2,031 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in East Bay.

4,502live here, work elsewhere

210live and work here

2,031work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where East Bay goes to work

Traverse City6 mi away

38%1,788

Garfield6.3 mi away

16%763

East Bay (in town)right here

4%210

Blair6.9 mi away

2%105

Suttons Bay21.6 mi away

2%104

Kalkaska14.8 mi away

2%93

Acme7.1 mi away

2%79

Grand Rapids120.1 mi away

2%72

Green Lake12.3 mi away

1%61

Elmwood11.5 mi away

1%54

Everywhere elseother towns and states

29%1,383

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

How far

How far East Bay commutes

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

65%

11%

19%

65%Under 10 mi

11%10–24 mi

4%25–50 mi

19%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

East Bay is a commuter town

0.48jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in East Bay are

2,241 jobs are based in East Bay. Here is what they are, next to the jobs East Bay’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in East Bay

2,241 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)26%

Trade, transport & utilities11%

Services (health, schools, offices…)63%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month33%

Over $3,333 a month50%

Jobs East Bay residents hold

4,712 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)19%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)62%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month31%

Over $3,333 a month54%

+8%

Jobs based in East Bay, 2011 → 2021: 2,069 → 2,241. 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.