Work & commute · Spring Lake

Work & commute in Spring Lake, MI

Most working residents leave Spring Lake for work: only 9% work in town. The top destinations are Grand Haven (10%), Muskegon (9%) and Grand Rapids (7%). Half commute less than 16 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

584 of 6,253 working residents

Typical commute

16 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

23 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

13%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 5,669 Spring Lake residents head out of town to work, 584 work right here, and 3,963 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Spring Lake.

5,669live here, work elsewhere

584live and work here

3,963work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Spring Lake goes to work

Grand Haven1.3 mi away

10%616

Muskegon11.6 mi away

9%594

Spring Lake (in town)right here

9%584

Grand Rapids28.2 mi away

7%462

Norton Shores7.5 mi away

5%334

Kentwood32.9 mi away

4%229

Grand Haven4.6 mi away

3%218

Fruitport6.6 mi away

3%173

Holland21.1 mi away

3%162

Walker22.7 mi away

3%160

Everywhere elseother towns and states

44%2,721

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

How far

How far Spring Lake commutes

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

41%

22%

14%

41%Under 10 mi

22%10–24 mi

22%25–50 mi

14%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Spring Lake is a commuter town

0.73jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Spring Lake are

4,547 jobs are based in Spring Lake. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Spring Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Spring Lake

4,547 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)62%

Trade, transport & utilities6%

Services (health, schools, offices…)33%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month39%

Over $3,333 a month46%

Jobs Spring Lake residents hold

6,253 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)28%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month61%

+21%

Jobs based in Spring Lake, 2011 → 2021: 3,770 → 4,547. 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.