Work & commute · Forest Hills

Work & commute in Forest Hills, MI

Most working residents leave Forest Hills for work: only 12% work in town. The top destinations are Grand Rapids (25%), Cascade (11%) and Kentwood (9%). Half commute less than 9 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

12%

1,433 of 11,803 working residents

Typical commute

9 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

20 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

23%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 10,370 Forest Hills residents head out of town to work, 1,433 work right here, and 13,075 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Forest Hills.

10,370live here, work elsewhere

1,433live and work here

13,075work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Forest Hills goes to work

Grand Rapids8.4 mi away

25%2,938

Cascade4.3 mi away

11%1,261

Kentwood7.4 mi away

9%1,026

Ada1.6 mi away

7%859

Wyoming12 mi away

4%481

Grand Rapids4.8 mi away

4%449

Walker13.7 mi away

3%297

Plainfield9.9 mi away

2%213

East Grand Rapids5.9 mi away

2%178

Caledonia11.3 mi away

1%164

Everywhere elseother towns and states

33%3,937

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

How far

How far Forest Hills commutes

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

58%

20%

15%

58%Under 10 mi

20%10–24 mi

7%25–50 mi

15%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Forest Hills is balanced between jobs and homes

1.23jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.23 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Forest Hills are

14,508 jobs are based in Forest Hills. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Forest Hills’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Forest Hills

14,508 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)18%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)63%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month64%

Jobs Forest Hills residents hold

11,803 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)18%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)64%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month18%

Over $3,333 a month68%

−20%

Jobs based in Forest Hills, 2011 → 2021: 18,149 → 14,508. 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.