Photo: Flavinista · CC BY-SA 4.035% of Ann Arbor’s residents are college students
Working from home is the commute for 29% of workers, where Michigan as a whole has 14%. For jobs and income Ann Arbor is better than 88% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is among the most walkable U.S. towns (A+). Family incomes here are higher than in 90% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Ann Arbor apart on work
Ann Arbor is where the jobs are
Ann Arbor has 93,882 jobs, 2.6 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 180,000 people are in town, 47% more than the 122,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Ann Arbor works from home
29% of Ann Arbor workers work from home, against 14% across Michigan. Time on the road ↓
Nearly all the work in Ann Arbor is services
90% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 2% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2021, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; 2021 is the newest year Michigan has published.
How Ann Arbor earns its Jobs & income grade
Family income is its strongest input ($146,116, U.S. $99,999); the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (9.4%, U.S. 11.9%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (30% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 9.4%, against 23.8% for all residents. Unemployment (3.9%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($146,116), since student households pull the household median down ($82,212).
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 family income and poverty, Ann Arbor could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Who leaves Ann Arbor for work, and who comes in
On a workday 18,822 residents head out to work, 17,313 work right here, and 76,569 people come in from elsewhere.
About 180,000 people are in Ann Arbor on a workday afternoon, 47% more than live here.
2.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2021, primary jobs.
How long Ann Arbor spends getting to work: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ann Arbor workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 43,654 commuters (the 29% 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.
Most jobs in Ann Arbor are in services
93,882 jobs are based in Ann Arbor.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ann Arbor, 2011 → 2021: 107,982 → 93,882. 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 Ann Arbor’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip into Ann Arbor
Where Ann Arbor clocks in
4% of workers
3% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Ann Arbor
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.
Ann Arbor is among the most walkable U.S. towns
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ann Arbor is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #1 of 701 in Michigan. Both inputs place Ann Arbor 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 61,208 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 94% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 47% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 35.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, among the most of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 12.8% of Ann Arbor households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 10% of Ann Arbor’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Among U.S. towns of 86,000 to 165,000, Ann Arbor ranks 32nd of 334 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 3 | Clay Township IN | 104,932 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Canton Township MI | 99,714 | $121K | 5.5% | 3.6% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Troy MI | 88,733 | $120K | 5.4% | 4.4% | 20% | A |
| 30 | Carrollton TX | 134,562 | $101K | 7.1% | 3.3% | 11% | A |
| 31 | Boulder CO | 105,689 | $87K | 21.5% | 6.0% | 44% | A |
| 32 | Ann Arbor MI | 122,233 | $82K | 23.8% | 3.9% | 48% | A |
| 33 | Bellevue WA | 154,193 | $166K | 7.2% | 4.2% | 21% | A |
| 34 | Downers Grove Township IL | 149,599 | $117K | 6.2% | 4.3% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Macomb Township MI | 95,099 | $121K | 4.4% | 4.4% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 334 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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 Ann Arbor, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
How Ann Arbor compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Pittsfield Township (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ann Arbor workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ann Arbor | – | A | A+ | 20 min | $82,212 |
| Ann Arbor Township | 3% | A+ | B+ | 21 min | $164,875 |
| Scio Township | 2% | A | B | 22 min | $129,816 |
| Pittsfield Township | 4% | A− | A− | 22 min | $102,463 |
| Barton Hills | under 2% | — | — | 21 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Barton Hills: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ann Arbor’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.
- Students. 35% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Ann Arbor: questions
What is the median household income in Ann Arbor?
$82,212 (±$5,268) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ann Arbor?
23.8% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 9.4%. Michigan: 13.2%.
How long is the commute from Ann Arbor?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 29% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ann Arbor work?
48% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pittsfield Township (4%, 5 mi), Ann Arbor Township (3%, 4 mi), Detroit (3%, 33 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Ann Arbor walkable?
Ann Arbor is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.3 out of 20, and 31% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ann Arbor without a car?
10% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. 47% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ann Arbor, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ann Arbor
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.