Wayland is a very small city located in the state of Michigan. With a population of 4,484 people and four associated neighborhoods, Wayland is the 211th largest community in Michigan.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Wayland is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Wayland is a city of sales and office workers, service providers, and production and manufacturing workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Wayland who work in food service (13.02%), office and administrative support (12.65%), and sales jobs (11.59%). One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 7.93% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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. The percentage of adults in Wayland who are college-educated is close to the national average for all communities of 21.84%: 20.65% of the adults in Wayland have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree. The per capita income in Wayland in 2022 was $31,748, which is middle income relative to Michigan and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $126,992 for a family of four. However, Wayland contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Wayland is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Wayland home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Wayland residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Wayland include German, Dutch, Irish, English, and Polish. The most common language spoken in Wayland is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Miao/Hmong.
