Work & commute · Iron River

Work & commute in Iron River, MI

Most working residents leave Iron River for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Iron River (31%), Kingsford (9%) and Iron Mountain (6%). Half commute less than 20 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times
Work in town
4%
13 of 331 working residents
Typical commute
20 mi
Half commute less than this, straight-line
Average commute time
23 min
One way, from the Census survey
Work from home
13%
of workers, from the Census survey
Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 318 Iron River residents head out of town to work, 13 work right here, and 139 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Iron River.

318live here, work elsewhere
13live and work here
139work here, live elsewhere
Leave for workStayCome in
The map

Where Iron River goes to work

CaspianGaastraCrystal FallsKingsfordIron RiverIron MountainMarquetteEscanabaCrystal FallsMastodonWatersmeetMenomineeInteriorDuncanIron RiverStambaughBatesIron RiverKingsfordIron MountainCrystal FallsCaspianMarquetteWatersmeetCrystal FallsEscanabaIron River
1
Iron River12.6 mi away
31%101
2
Kingsford44.8 mi away
9%30
3
Iron Mountain45.4 mi away
6%20
4
Crystal Falls24.8 mi away
6%19
5
Iron River (in town)right here
4%13
6
Caspian14.6 mi away
3%10
7
Marquette69.7 mi away
3%10
8
Watersmeet20.1 mi away
3%10
9
Crystal Falls22.8 mi away
3%9
10
Escanaba88.8 mi away
2%8
Everywhere elseother towns and states
31%101

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

How far

How far Iron River commutes

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

37%Under 10 mi
15%10–24 mi
21%25–50 mi
27%Over 50 mi
Job hub or commuter town?

Iron River is a commuter town

0.46jobs per working resident
A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Iron River are

152 jobs are based in Iron River. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Iron River’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Iron River

152 jobs
Goods (factories, building, farms)80%
Trade, transport & utilities5%
Services (health, schools, offices…)14%
$1,250 a month or less11%
$1,251–$3,333 a month29%
Over $3,333 a month60%

Jobs Iron River residents hold

331 working residents
Goods (factories, building, farms)25%
Trade, transport & utilities18%
Services (health, schools, offices…)57%
$1,250 a month or less24%
$1,251–$3,333 a month35%
Over $3,333 a month42%
−86%

Jobs based in Iron River, 2011 → 2021: 1,083 → 152. 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 Iron River, MIIron CountyView boundary

Nearby

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Iron River 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/15 · 2025-01-01