Work & commute · Forest Home

Work & commute in Forest Home, MI

Most working residents leave Forest Home for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Kearney (21%), Central Lake (9%) and Traverse City (6%). Half commute less than 14 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

22 of 583 working residents

Typical commute

14 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

22 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

15%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 561 Forest Home residents head out of town to work, 22 work right here, and 125 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Forest Home.

561live here, work elsewhere

22live and work here

125work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Forest Home goes to work

Kearney5.9 mi away

21%125

Central Lake6.6 mi away

9%50

Traverse City23.3 mi away

6%35

East Jordan14 mi away

6%34

Elk Rapids9.3 mi away

6%34

Forest Home (in town)right here

4%22

Kalkaska17.2 mi away

3%18

Petoskey28.9 mi away

2%12

Garfield25.7 mi away

2%12

Mancelona14.9 mi away

2%11

Everywhere elseother towns and states

39%230

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

How far

How far Forest Home commutes

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

40%

28%

11%

20%

40%Under 10 mi

28%10–24 mi

11%25–50 mi

20%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Forest Home is a commuter town

0.25jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Forest Home are

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

Jobs based in Forest Home

147 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)12%

Trade, transport & utilities3%

Services (health, schools, offices…)86%

$1,250 a month or less31%

$1,251–$3,333 a month35%

Over $3,333 a month34%

Jobs Forest Home residents hold

583 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)27%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month39%

Over $3,333 a month46%

+2%

Jobs based in Forest Home, 2011 → 2021: 144 → 147. 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.