TownTapestry
Sign inJoin
Elk RapidsGood night
Work & commute · Elk Rapids

Work & commute in Elk Rapids, MI

Most working residents leave Elk Rapids for work: only 16% work in town. The top destinations are Traverse City (23%), Elk Rapids (18%) and Garfield (4%). Half commute less than 14 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times
Work in town
16%
86 of 533 working residents
Typical commute
14 mi
Half commute less than this, straight-line
Average commute time
18 min
One way, from the Census survey
Work from home
12%
of workers, from the Census survey
Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 447 Elk Rapids residents head out of town to work, 86 work right here, and 794 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Elk Rapids.

447live here, work elsewhere
86live and work here
794work here, live elsewhere
Leave for workStayCome in
The map

Where Elk Rapids goes to work

Elk RapidsTraverse CityKentwoodGrand RapidsSuttons BayClearwaterForest HomeKearneyMiltonTorch LakeElk RapidsAcmeWhitewaterEast BayGarfieldTraverse CityElk RapidsGarfieldSuttons BayEast BayKentwoodAcmeWhitewaterKearneyGrand RapidsElk Rapids
1
Traverse City13.9 mi away
23%124
2
Elk Rapids0.3 mi away
18%96
3
Garfield16.4 mi away
4%23
4
Suttons Bay13.2 mi away
3%18
5
East Bay14.9 mi away
2%13
6
Kentwood139.4 mi away
2%10
7
Acme7.9 mi away
2%10
8
Whitewater9.4 mi away
2%10
9
Kearney14.8 mi away
2%9
10
Grand Rapids134.4 mi away
2%8
Everywhere elseother towns and states
40%212

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

How far

How far Elk Rapids commutes

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

25%Under 10 mi
42%10–24 mi
8%25–50 mi
25%Over 50 mi
Job hub or commuter town?

Elk Rapids is a job hub

1.65jobs per working resident
A job hub

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Elk Rapids are

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

Jobs based in Elk Rapids

880 jobs
Goods (factories, building, farms)39%
Trade, transport & utilities14%
Services (health, schools, offices…)47%
$1,250 a month or less18%
$1,251–$3,333 a month41%
Over $3,333 a month41%

Jobs Elk Rapids residents hold

533 working residents
Goods (factories, building, farms)19%
Trade, transport & utilities18%
Services (health, schools, offices…)62%
$1,250 a month or less19%
$1,251–$3,333 a month32%
Over $3,333 a month50%
+18%

Jobs based in Elk Rapids, 2011 → 2021: 745 → 880. 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 Elk Rapids, MIView boundary

Nearby

All towns & citiesExplore the map

Local begins with a boundary.

See what belongs to your selected town.

Loading boundary…

Elk Rapids 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/18 · 2025-01-01
Open detailed map