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Work & commute in Northview · A commuter town

94% of Northview’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Northview for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Grand Rapids (28%), Plainfield (8%) and Wyoming (6%). Half commute less than 9 miles.

Work in town
6%
407 of 7,082 working residents
Typical commute
9 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
18 min
Less than MI (24 min)
Work from home
14%
More than MI (14%)
Jobs based here
5,071
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Northview?

Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · The commute map

28% of working residents work in Grand Rapids

A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.

Rockford: 93 residents work here (1%)Grandville: 137 residents work here (2%)Walker: 377 residents work here (5%)Wyoming: 455 residents work here (6%)Kentwood: 402 residents work here (6%)Grand Rapids: 1,991 residents work here (28%)CannonGeorgetownPlainfield: 579 residents work here (8%)Cascade: 419 residents work here (6%)Grand Rapids: 189 residents work here (3%)Ada: 142 residents work here (2%)AlgomaNorthviewForest HillsGrand RapidsPlainfieldWyomingCascadeKentwoodWalkerNorthview
1
Grand Rapids6 mi away
28%1,991
2
Plainfield2.4 mi away
8%579
3
Wyoming11.6 mi away
6%455
4
Cascade11.3 mi away
6%419
5
Kentwood10.7 mi away
6%402
6
Walker8.3 mi away
5%377
7
Grand Rapids3.6 mi away
3%189
8
Ada7.2 mi away
2%142
9
Grandville12.2 mi away
2%137
10
Rockford7.1 mi away
1%93
Everywhere elseother towns and states
32%2,298
The top trips

Where Northview clocks in

Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.

The jobs

What the 5,071 jobs in Northview are

5,071 jobs are based in Northview. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Northview’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in NorthviewJobs Northview residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms5%20%
Trade, transport & utilities28%19%
Services: health, schools, offices67%61%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less21%15%
$1,251–$3,333 a month31%28%
Over $3,333 a month47%58%

Who does it

29 or younger33%24%
30 to 5447%50%
55 and older19%26%
+52%

Jobs based in Northview, 2011 → 2021: 3,327 → 5,071. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2021.

Time on the road

About 18 minutes each way, quicker than most of Michigan

From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.

A year of commuting
140 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Northview18 min
Michigan24 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
14%

of Northview workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
Day and night

Northview quiets down on a workday

On a workday 6,675 residents head out to work, 407 work right here, and 4,664 people come in from elsewhere.

6,675live here, work elsewhere
407live and work here
4,664work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night15,000
Workday13,000
15,000live here− 6,700head out to work+ 4,700come in to work= 13,000on a workday

About 13,000 people are in Northview on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.72jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

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

Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2021, primary jobs.

How far

Half of Northview commutes less than 9 miles

Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

10 mi25 mi30 miGrand Rapids: 28% · 6 miPlainfield: 8% · 2.4 miWyoming: 6% · 11.6 miCascade: 6% · 11.3 miKentwood: 6% · 10.7 miWalker: 5% · 8.3 miGrand Rapids: 3% · 3.6 miAda: 2% · 7.2 miGrandville: 2% · 12.2 miRockford: 1% · 7.1 miGrand Rapids 28%Plainfield 8%Wyoming 6%Cascade 6%Kentwood 6%Northview
NorthviewTop destinations (size = commuters)
56%Under 10 mi3,963 residents
24%10–24 mi1,710 residents
5%25–50 mi358 residents
15%Over 50 mi1,044 residents

About 15% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.

Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2021.

Next door

13% of Northview works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Plainfield (8%). Darker towns draw more of Northview’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Every worker, home to work. The 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 says. A 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 surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2021. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
  • Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
Beyond the commute

More of Northview

Northview home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Northview, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
Is the commute from Northview worth it?

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Ask neighbors

Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2021, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer.

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