Work & commute · Waterloo

Work & commute in Waterloo, MI

Most working residents leave Waterloo for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Chelsea (14%), Jackson (9%) and Scio (6%). Half commute less than 17 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

31 of 922 working residents

Typical commute

17 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

32 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

16%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 891 Waterloo residents head out of town to work, 31 work right here, and 155 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Waterloo.

891live here, work elsewhere

31live and work here

155work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Waterloo goes to work

Chelsea9.5 mi away

14%132

Jackson14.3 mi away

9%82

Scio18.2 mi away

6%51

Blackman13.3 mi away

5%45

Ann Arbor24.1 mi away

4%41

Grass Lake8.3 mi away

4%34

Waterloo (in town)right here

3%31

Summit17.3 mi away

3%27

Lansing30.4 mi away

2%23

Leoni9 mi away

2%23

Everywhere elseother towns and states

47%433

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

How far

How far Waterloo commutes

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

19%

43%

21%

17%

19%Under 10 mi

43%10–24 mi

21%25–50 mi

17%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Waterloo is a commuter town

0.20jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Waterloo are

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

Jobs based in Waterloo

186 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)40%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)41%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month30%

Over $3,333 a month53%

Jobs Waterloo residents hold

922 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)25%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)55%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month29%

Over $3,333 a month54%

+151%

Jobs based in Waterloo, 2011 → 2021: 74 → 186. 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.