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Work & commute in Pennfield · A commuter town

96% of Pennfield’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Pennfield for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Battle Creek (35%), Emmett (6%) and Marshall (4%). Half commute less than 10 miles.

Work in town
4%
134 of 3,522 working residents
Typical commute
10 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
22 min
Less than MI (24 min)
Work from home
5%
Less than MI (14%)
Jobs based here
847
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Pennfield?

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

★ What stands out · Next door

43% of Pennfield works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Battle Creek (35%). Darker towns draw more of Pennfield’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

The commute map

35% of working residents work in Battle Creek

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

Springfield: 72 residents work here (2%)Marshall: 152 residents work here (4%)Kalamazoo: 128 residents work here (4%)Grand RapidsBattle Creek: 1,221 residents work here (35%)Lansing: 74 residents work here (2%)Portage: 78 residents work here (2%)NewtonPennfieldEmmett: 207 residents work here (6%)ConvisComstock: 47 residents work here (1%)Bedford: 87 residents work here (2%)BellevueBattle CreekEmmettMarshallKalamazooBedfordPortagePennfield
1
Battle Creek8.2 mi away
35%1,221
2
Emmett7 mi away
6%207
3
Marshall10.7 mi away
4%152
4
Pennfield (in town)right here
4%134
5
Kalamazoo25.4 mi away
4%128
6
Bedford6.4 mi away
2%87
7
Portage27.6 mi away
2%78
8
Lansing36.3 mi away
2%74
9
Springfield7.3 mi away
2%72
10
Comstock19.3 mi away
1%47
Everywhere elseother towns and states
38%1,322
The top trips

Where Pennfield clocks in

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

Day and night

Pennfield quiets down on a workday

On a workday 3,388 residents head out to work, 134 work right here, and 713 people come in from elsewhere.

3,388live here, work elsewhere
134live and work here
713work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night8,700
Workday6,000
8,700live here− 3,400head out to work+ 710come in to work= 6,000on a workday

About 6,000 people are in Pennfield on a workday afternoon, 31% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.24jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.24 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 Pennfield commutes less than 10 miles

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

10 mi25 mi45 miBattle Creek: 35% · 8.2 miEmmett: 6% · 7 miMarshall: 4% · 10.7 miKalamazoo: 4% · 25.4 miBedford: 2% · 6.4 miPortage: 2% · 27.6 miLansing: 2% · 36.3 miSpringfield: 2% · 7.3 miComstock: 1% · 19.3 miBattle Creek 35%Emmett 6%Marshall 4%Bedford 2%Pennfield
PennfieldTop destinations (size = commuters)
49%Under 10 mi1,715 residents
19%10–24 mi657 residents
16%25–50 mi560 residents
17%Over 50 mi590 residents

About 17% 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.

The jobs

What the 847 jobs in Pennfield are

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

Jobs based in PennfieldJobs Pennfield residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms15%26%
Trade, transport & utilities19%18%
Services: health, schools, offices66%57%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less23%16%
$1,251–$3,333 a month42%29%
Over $3,333 a month35%55%

Who does it

29 or younger25%22%
30 to 5452%55%
55 and older24%23%
−10%

Jobs based in Pennfield, 2011 → 2021: 942 → 847. 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 22 minutes each way, quicker than most of Michigan

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

A year of commuting
166 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Pennfield22 min
Michigan24 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
5%

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

About 0 in 10

How Pennfield ranks on commute time →

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 Pennfield

Pennfield home →

Commuter talk

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

Town Square →
Weigh in
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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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