Work & commute · Portage

Work & commute in Portage, MI

Most working residents leave Portage for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Houghton (33%), Hancock (15%) and Baraga (5%). Half commute less than 10 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

57 of 1,032 working residents

Typical commute

10 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

15 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 975 Portage residents head out of town to work, 57 work right here, and 826 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Portage.

975live here, work elsewhere

57live and work here

826work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Portage goes to work

Houghton10.4 mi away

33%341

Hancock11.8 mi away

15%151

Portage (in town)right here

6%57

Baraga15.6 mi away

5%55

Calumet21.8 mi away

3%36

Adams6.5 mi away

3%33

Marquette65.4 mi away

3%29

Chassell4.8 mi away

2%20

Escanaba112.3 mi away

1%14

Osceola17.1 mi away

1%14

Everywhere elseother towns and states

27%282

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

How far

How far Portage commutes

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

50%

25%

50%Under 10 mi

25%10–24 mi

1%25–50 mi

25%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Portage is balanced between jobs and homes

0.86jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.86 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Portage are

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

Jobs based in Portage

883 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)10%

Trade, transport & utilities37%

Services (health, schools, offices…)53%

$1,250 a month or less29%

$1,251–$3,333 a month33%

Over $3,333 a month38%

Jobs Portage residents hold

1,032 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)15%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)68%

$1,250 a month or less19%

$1,251–$3,333 a month30%

Over $3,333 a month51%

+104%

Jobs based in Portage, 2011 → 2021: 433 → 883. 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.