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Work & commute in Vandercook Lake · A commuter town

97% of Vandercook Lake’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Vandercook Lake for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Jackson (25%), Blackman (12%) and Summit (11%). Half commute less than 7 miles.

Work in town
3%
51 of 1,790 working residents
Typical commute
7 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
20 min
Less than MI (24 min)
Work from home
4%
Less than MI (14%)
Jobs based here
847
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Vandercook Lake?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

25% of working residents work in Jackson

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

Jackson: 440 residents work here (25%)Lansing: 38 residents work here (2%)Ann Arbor: 57 residents work here (3%)Scio: 29 residents work here (2%)Blackman: 208 residents work here (12%)Napoleon: 20 residents work here (1%)LibertyColumbiaGrass LakeSandstone: 33 residents work here (2%)Spring Arbor: 26 residents work here (1%)Leoni: 109 residents work here (6%)RivesSummit: 198 residents work here (11%)Vandercook LakeJacksonBlackmanSummitLeoniAnn ArborLansingVandercook Lake
1
Jackson3.7 mi away
25%440
2
Blackman7.5 mi away
12%208
3
Summit2.3 mi away
11%198
4
Leoni7.1 mi away
6%109
5
Ann Arbor34 mi away
3%57
6
Lansing37.2 mi away
2%38
7
Sandstone10.5 mi away
2%33
8
Scio28.6 mi away
2%29
9
Spring Arbor7.9 mi away
1%26
10
Napoleon4.7 mi away
1%20
Everywhere elseother towns and states
35%632
The top trips

Where Vandercook Lake clocks in

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

Next door

36% of Vandercook Lake works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Jackson (25%). Darker towns draw more of Vandercook Lake’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

10%+5–9%2–4%1%Under 1%

Average commute minutes, one way

Jackson17 min
Summit19 min
Vandercook Lake20 min
How far

Half of Vandercook Lake commutes less than 7 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 miJackson: 25% · 3.7 miBlackman: 12% · 7.5 miSummit: 11% · 2.3 miLeoni: 6% · 7.1 miAnn Arbor: 3% · 34 miLansing: 2% · 37.2 miSandstone: 2% · 10.5 miScio: 2% · 28.6 miSpring Arbor: 1% · 7.9 miNapoleon: 1% · 4.7 miJackson 25%Blackman 12%Summit 11%Leoni 6%Ann Arbor 3%Vandercook Lake
Vandercook LakeTop destinations (size = commuters)
58%Under 10 mi1,043 residents
7%10–24 mi130 residents
17%25–50 mi306 residents
17%Over 50 mi310 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.

Day and night

Vandercook Lake quiets down on a workday

On a workday 1,739 residents head out to work, 51 work right here, and 796 people come in from elsewhere.

1,739live here, work elsewhere
51live and work here
796work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night4,400
Workday3,400
4,400live here− 1,700head out to work+ 800come in to work= 3,400on a workday

About 3,400 people are in Vandercook Lake on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.47jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.47 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.

The jobs

What the 847 jobs in Vandercook Lake are

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

Jobs based in Vandercook LakeJobs Vandercook Lake residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms2%25%
Trade, transport & utilities64%19%
Services: health, schools, offices34%56%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less15%14%
$1,251–$3,333 a month22%31%
Over $3,333 a month63%56%

Who does it

29 or younger24%22%
30 to 5453%52%
55 and older23%27%
−15%

Jobs based in Vandercook Lake, 2011 → 2021: 993 → 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 20 minutes each way, quicker than most of Michigan

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

A year of commuting
156 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Vandercook Lake20 min
Michigan24 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
4%

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

About 0 in 10
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 Vandercook Lake

Vandercook Lake home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Vandercook Lake, 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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