Work & commute · Portland

Work & commute in Portland, MI

Most working residents leave Portland for work: only 15% work in town. The top destinations are Delta (6%), Ionia (6%) and Grand Rapids (5%). Half commute less than 20 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

15%

187 of 1,232 working residents

Typical commute

20 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

28 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

10%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 1,045 Portland residents head out of town to work, 187 work right here, and 3,530 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Portland.

1,045live here, work elsewhere

187live and work here

3,530work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Portland goes to work

Portland (in town)right here

15%187

Delta15.6 mi away

6%78

Ionia11.6 mi away

6%76

Grand Rapids38.8 mi away

5%56

Lansing20.2 mi away

4%49

Portland2.5 mi away

4%45

Watertown13 mi away

2%30

Kentwood35.1 mi away

2%29

Cascade30 mi away

2%22

Odessa13.1 mi away

2%20

Everywhere elseother towns and states

52%640

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

How far

How far Portland commutes

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

25%

31%

22%

25%Under 10 mi

31%10–24 mi

22%25–50 mi

22%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Portland is a job hub

3.02jobs per working resident

A job hub

3.0 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Portland are

3,717 jobs are based in Portland. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Portland’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Portland

3,717 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)10%

Trade, transport & utilities7%

Services (health, schools, offices…)83%

$1,250 a month or less40%

$1,251–$3,333 a month39%

Over $3,333 a month21%

Jobs Portland residents hold

1,232 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)22%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)58%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month56%

−47%

Jobs based in Portland, 2011 → 2021: 6,979 → 3,717. 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.