Work & commute · New Buffalo

Work & commute in New Buffalo, MI

Most working residents leave New Buffalo for work: only 17% work in town. The top destinations are New Buffalo (11%), Grand Rapids (8%) and Michigan City (5%). Half commute less than 26 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

17%

88 of 522 working residents

Typical commute

26 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

21 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

16%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 434 New Buffalo residents head out of town to work, 88 work right here, and 775 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in New Buffalo.

434live here, work elsewhere

88live and work here

775work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where New Buffalo goes to work

New Buffalo (in town)right here

17%88

New Buffalo1.2 mi away

11%59

Grand Rapids98 mi away

8%42

Michigan City, IN8.6 mi away

5%28

South Bend, IN25.7 mi away

3%15

Chikaming7.7 mi away

2%13

Benton28.5 mi away

2%12

Elkhart, IN40.8 mi away

2%10

La Porte, IN12.6 mi away

1%7

St. Joseph23.5 mi away

1%7

Everywhere elseother towns and states

46%241

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

How far

How far New Buffalo commutes

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

37%

10%

16%

38%

37%Under 10 mi

10%10–24 mi

16%25–50 mi

38%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

New Buffalo 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 New Buffalo are

863 jobs are based in New Buffalo. Here is what they are, next to the jobs New Buffalo’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in New Buffalo

863 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)8%

Trade, transport & utilities15%

Services (health, schools, offices…)78%

$1,250 a month or less20%

$1,251–$3,333 a month36%

Over $3,333 a month44%

Jobs New Buffalo residents hold

522 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)68%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month28%

Over $3,333 a month54%

−13%

Jobs based in New Buffalo, 2011 → 2021: 993 → 863. 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.