Photo: Shirl · CC BY 2.0Households in Charlotte have lower incomes than those in 69% of U.S. towns
11.1% of residents live below the poverty line; Michigan has 13.2%. Charlotte grades B− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in five stay in Charlotte for work; outside it, Lansing is the main destination (17%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Charlotte and work: the main findings
Commutes from Charlotte are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan worker. Time on the road ↓
Charlotte draws workers from far and wide
The 5,372 jobs in Charlotte are filled from a wide area. Charlotte’s own residents hold 16% and the ten next-biggest home towns 28%; the other 56% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
Where Charlotte’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Charlotte is better than 53% of U.S. towns, #377 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Charlotte’s grade up (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($62,681, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
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, Charlotte could be anywhere from C to B+.
A commute of about 19 minutes in Charlotte
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Charlotte workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,789 commuters (the 13% 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.
The places Charlotte commutes to
Where Charlotte clocks in
17% 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.
A workday in Charlotte: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,869 residents head out to work, 838 work right here, and 4,534 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Charlotte on a workday afternoon, 18% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.45 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.
Jobs in Charlotte: what the 5,372 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Charlotte, 2011 → 2021: 5,081 → 5,372. 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 Charlotte’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Charlotte
About 19% 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.
Charlotte is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Charlotte is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #104 of 701 in Michigan. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,350 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 6.5% of Charlotte households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Charlotte’s commuters take a bus or train.
Charlotte places 1,607th of 2,867 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 6,500 to 12,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 4 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Grosse Pointe Farms MI | 9,735 | $161K | 2.5% | 1.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 70 | Jamestown Township MI | 10,702 | $120K | 2.8% | 1.1% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,605 | Welcome SC | 6,527 | $66K | 8.9% | 5.1% | 1% | B− |
| 1,606 | Clinton Township OH | 9,470 | $69K | 7.4% | 4.1% | 28% | B− |
| 1,607 | Charlotte MI | 9,305 | $63K | 11.1% | 3.2% | 23% | B− |
| 1,608 | Independence OR | 10,195 | $85K | 12.5% | 3.9% | 12% | B− |
| 1,609 | Junction City OR | 7,224 | $86K | 9.5% | 5.3% | 12% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,867 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Charlotte, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Around Charlotte: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Eaton Township (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Charlotte workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte | – | B− | A− | 19 min | $62,681 |
| Eaton Township | 1% | A− | D | 24 min | $97,398 |
| Carmel Township | under 2% | B+ | D− | 22 min | $95,083 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Charlotte’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 Charlotte: questions
What is the median household income in Charlotte?
$62,681 (±$5,677) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Charlotte?
11.1%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Charlotte?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Charlotte work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lansing (17%, 17 mi), Delta Township (7%, 14 mi), East Lansing (3%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Charlotte walkable?
Charlotte is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Charlotte without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Charlotte, from the people who make the trip.
More of Charlotte
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.