Work & commute · Wawatam

Work & commute in Wawatam, MI

Most working residents leave Wawatam for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Petoskey (11%), Mackinaw (7%) and Cheboygan (5%). Half commute less than 29 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

12 of 211 working residents

Typical commute

29 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

16 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 199 Wawatam residents head out of town to work, 12 work right here, and 183 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Wawatam.

199live here, work elsewhere

12live and work here

183work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Wawatam goes to work

Petoskey27.8 mi away

11%23

Mackinaw4.1 mi away

7%15

Wawatam (in town)right here

6%12

Cheboygan16.4 mi away

5%11

St. Ignace10.8 mi away

4%9

Little Traverse21.3 mi away

4%8

Harbor Springs23.2 mi away

3%6

Traverse City78.6 mi away

2%5

Bear Creek27.1 mi away

2%5

Carp Lake3.4 mi away

2%4

Everywhere elseother towns and states

54%113

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

How far

How far Wawatam commutes

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

20%

26%

33%

20%Under 10 mi

20%10–24 mi

26%25–50 mi

33%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Wawatam is balanced between jobs and homes

0.92jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.92 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Wawatam are

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

Jobs based in Wawatam

195 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)12%

Trade, transport & utilities7%

Services (health, schools, offices…)81%

$1,250 a month or less30%

$1,251–$3,333 a month37%

Over $3,333 a month32%

Jobs Wawatam residents hold

211 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)15%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)66%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month30%

Over $3,333 a month56%

−63%

Jobs based in Wawatam, 2011 → 2021: 525 → 195. 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.