Detroit has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
There are 16 jobs in Detroit for 88 working residents. Hardly any stay in Detroit for work; outside it, Sulligent is the main destination (13%, 10 miles). The trip to work takes 31 minutes on average, next to 26 for Alabama and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The daily flow of workers through Detroit
On a workday 88 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 16 people come in from elsewhere.
About 150 people are in Detroit on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where Detroit goes to work
Where Detroit clocks in
6% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
In Detroit, 38% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Detroit, 2014 → 2024: 38 → 16. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Detroit’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 31 minutes in Detroit
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Detroit workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 61 commuters (the 3% who work from home are left out). Across Alabama: 88% drive alone, <1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Near or far: the trip to work from Detroit
About 44% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Detroit: questions
What is the poverty rate in Detroit?
31.7%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Detroit?
31 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Detroit work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sulligent (13%, 10 mi), Vernon (6%, 19 mi), Hamilton (6%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Detroit without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Detroit, from the people who make the trip.
More of Detroit
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer.