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Work & commute in South Range · Balanced

98% of South Range’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave South Range for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Houghton (34%), Hancock (16%) and Adams (7%). Half commute less than 5 miles.

Work in town
2%
6 of 261 working residents
Typical commute
5 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
11 min
Less than MI (24 min)
Work from home
9%
Less than MI (14%)
Jobs based here
213
Balanced

What kind of work town is South Range?

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

★ What stands out · Time on the road

About 11 minutes each way, quicker than most of Michigan

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

A year of commuting
87 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.6 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

South Range11 min
Michigan24 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
9%

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

About 1 in 10
The jobs

South Range makes things: 66% of its jobs are in goods

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

Jobs based in South RangeJobs South Range residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms66%14%
Trade, transport & utilities21%13%
Services: health, schools, offices14%73%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less21%22%
$1,251–$3,333 a month26%24%
Over $3,333 a month54%54%

Who does it

29 or younger32%23%
30 to 5448%55%
55 and older20%22%
+103%

Jobs based in South Range, 2011 → 2021: 105 → 213. 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.

How far

Half of South Range commutes less than 5 miles

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

10 mi25 mi50 mi80 miHoughton: 34% · 4.6 miHancock: 16% · 5.1 miAdams: 7% · 2.1 miPortage: 6% · 7 miCalumet: 3% · 15.9 miMarquette: 3% · 69.1 miIron Mountain: 2% · 90.3 miBaraga: 2% · 22.6 miFranklin: 2% · 8.1 miEscanaba: 2% · 117.9 miHoughton 34%Hancock 16%Adams 7%Portage 6%Calumet 3%South Range
South RangeTop destinations (size = commuters)
67%Under 10 mi175 residents
8%10–24 mi22 residents
1%25–50 mi3 residents
23%Over 50 mi60 residents

About 23% 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 commute map

34% of working residents work in Houghton

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

South RangeHancock: 43 residents work here (16%)Houghton: 88 residents work here (34%)Iron Mountain: 6 residents work here (2%)Marquette: 7 residents work here (3%)Escanaba: 4 residents work here (2%)Baraga: 6 residents work here (2%)SchoolcraftAdams: 19 residents work here (7%)ChassellFranklin: 6 residents work here (2%)OsceolaPortage: 15 residents work here (6%)StantonCalumet: 8 residents work here (3%)HoughtonHancockAdamsPortageCalumetMarquetteSouth Range
1
Houghton4.6 mi away
34%88
2
Hancock5.1 mi away
16%43
3
Adams2.1 mi away
7%19
4
Portage7 mi away
6%15
5
Calumet15.9 mi away
3%8
6
Marquette69.1 mi away
3%7
7
Iron Mountain90.3 mi away
2%6
8
Baraga22.6 mi away
2%6
9
Franklin8.1 mi away
2%6
10
Escanaba117.9 mi away
2%4
Everywhere elseother towns and states
23%59
The top trips

Where South Range clocks in

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

Day and night

South Range quiets down on a workday

On a workday 255 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 207 people come in from elsewhere.

255live here, work elsewhere
6live and work here
207work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night480
Workday430
480live here− 260head out to work+ 210come in to work= 430on a workday

About 430 people are in South Range on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.82jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

About as many jobs as working residents (0.82 per resident).

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 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 South Range

South Range home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from South Range, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
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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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