Work & commute · Gaines

Work & commute in Gaines, MI

Most working residents leave Gaines for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Grand Rapids (20%), Kentwood (11%) and Wyoming (10%). Half commute less than 8 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

706 of 12,598 working residents

Typical commute

8 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

21 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 11,892 Gaines residents head out of town to work, 706 work right here, and 7,825 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Gaines.

11,892live here, work elsewhere

706live and work here

7,825work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Gaines goes to work

Grand Rapids11.1 mi away

20%2,555

Kentwood5.6 mi away

11%1,422

Wyoming7.9 mi away

10%1,308

Cascade8.7 mi away

7%934

Gaines (in town)right here

6%706

Byron6.1 mi away

5%608

Caledonia5.6 mi away

3%437

Walker15.3 mi away

2%295

Grandville10 mi away

2%280

Grand Rapids13.1 mi away

1%162

Everywhere elseother towns and states

31%3,891

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

How far

How far Gaines commutes

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

62%

20%

13%

62%Under 10 mi

20%10–24 mi

5%25–50 mi

13%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Gaines is a commuter town

0.68jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Gaines are

8,531 jobs are based in Gaines. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Gaines’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Gaines

8,531 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)12%

Trade, transport & utilities46%

Services (health, schools, offices…)43%

$1,250 a month or less19%

$1,251–$3,333 a month37%

Over $3,333 a month44%

Jobs Gaines residents hold

12,598 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)24%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)55%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month29%

Over $3,333 a month56%

+109%

Jobs based in Gaines, 2011 → 2021: 4,076 → 8,531. 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.