Traverse City is a medium-sized city located in the state of Michigan. With a population of 15,707 people and 19 associated neighborhoods, Traverse City is the 79th largest community in Michigan. Traverse City has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country. Traverse City real estate is some of the most expensive in Michigan, although Traverse City house values don't compare to the most expensive real estate in the U.S.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Traverse City is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Traverse City is a city of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Traverse City who work in sales jobs (13.02%), management occupations (8.70%), and teaching (7.55%). Also of interest is that Traverse City has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. A relatively large number of people in Traverse City telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 15.55% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Traverse City spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 18.66 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.The citizens of Traverse City are among the most well-educated in the nation: 46.55% of adults in Traverse City have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree, whereas the average US city has 21.84% holding at least a bachelor's degree. The per capita income in Traverse City in 2022 was $52,044, which is wealthy relative to Michigan and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $208,176 for a family of four. However, Traverse City contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. The people who call Traverse City home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Traverse City residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Traverse City include German, Irish, English, Polish, and Scottish. The most common language spoken in Traverse City is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
