Work & commute · Wise

Work & commute in Wise, MI

Most working residents leave Wise for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Mount Pleasant (19%), Chippewa (13%) and Midland (8%). Half commute less than 16 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

5 of 532 working residents

Typical commute

16 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

25 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 527 Wise residents head out of town to work, 5 work right here, and 82 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Wise.

527live here, work elsewhere

5live and work here

82work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Wise goes to work

Mount Pleasant13.5 mi away

19%101

Chippewa13 mi away

13%68

Midland24.5 mi away

8%43

Clare5.5 mi away

4%23

Union15.7 mi away

4%23

Alma27.2 mi away

4%20

St. Louis25.7 mi away

2%10

Lansing73.7 mi away

2%10

Coe18.1 mi away

2%9

Surrey13 mi away

1%7

Everywhere elseother towns and states

41%218

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

How far

How far Wise commutes

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

13%

48%

18%

21%

13%Under 10 mi

48%10–24 mi

18%25–50 mi

21%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Wise is a commuter town

0.16jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Wise are

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

Jobs based in Wise

87 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)41%

Trade, transport & utilities43%

Services (health, schools, offices…)16%

$1,250 a month or less20%

$1,251–$3,333 a month62%

Over $3,333 a month18%

Jobs Wise residents hold

532 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)21%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)64%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month37%

Over $3,333 a month45%

+222%

Jobs based in Wise, 2011 → 2021: 27 → 87. 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.