Civil War Memorial · Photo: Notorious4life · Public domainHousehold incomes in Adrian are lower than in 88% of U.S. towns
20.3% of residents live below the poverty line, against 13.2% across Michigan. The two grades for Adrian are C− for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in four work in Adrian; the top destination outside it is Madison Township (6%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Adrian’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Adrian is better than 20% of U.S. towns, #609 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Adrian’s grade up (ahead of 53% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($50,209, U.S. $80,734).
The commuting and job counts on this page are Census LEHD 2021: Michigan reports later than other states, so its newest year is two years behind.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Adrian could be anywhere from D to C.
A workday in Adrian: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 5,121 residents head out to work, 1,748 work right here, and 7,302 people come in from elsewhere.
About 22,000 people are in Adrian on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.32 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2021, primary jobs.
The places Adrian commutes to
Where Adrian clocks in
4% of workers
4% 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.
The 9,050 jobs based in Adrian
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Adrian, 2011 → 2021: 10,570 → 9,050. 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 2021.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Adrian’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes to work from Adrian
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Adrian workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,842 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across Michigan: 86% 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.
Where in the region Adrian works
About 23% 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 2021.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Good to walk, short on transit: Adrian
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Adrian is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns, #40 of 701 in Michigan. Both inputs place Adrian near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,607 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 12.6% of Adrian households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Adrian’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,673rd of 1,860: where Adrian ranks among U.S. towns of 14,000 to 27,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Southfield Township MI | 14,671 | $185K | 4.7% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Berkley MI | 15,145 | $116K | 4.5% | 2.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,671 | Vincennes IN | 16,378 | $54K | 19.6% | 5.2% | 38% | C− |
| 1,672 | Augusta ME | 19,155 | $48K | 18.2% | 5.7% | 45% | C− |
| 1,673 | Adrian MI | 20,191 | $50K | 20.3% | 5.3% | 25% | C− |
| 1,674 | Thompson NY | 16,722 | $65K | 21.6% | 5.7% | 33% | C− |
| 1,675 | Danville KY | 17,736 | $53K | 17.4% | 6.6% | 35% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,860 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Adrian, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Adrian and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Adrian workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adrian | – | C− | A | 22 min | $50,209 |
| Adrian Township | 3% | A− | C+ | 26 min | $90,879 |
| Madison Township | 6% | C | C | 25 min | $69,643 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Madison Township. Darker towns draw more of Adrian’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2021, 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 Adrian: questions
What is the median household income in Adrian?
$50,209 (±$3,644) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Adrian?
20.3%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Adrian?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Adrian work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison Township (6%, 4 mi), Tecumseh (4%, 9 mi), Ann Arbor (4%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Adrian walkable?
Adrian is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Adrian without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Adrian, from the people who make the trip.
More of Adrian
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2021, 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. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.