St. Clair Flats South Channel Range Lights · Photo: US Coast Guard · Public domainClay Township has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
Only 7% work in Clay Township itself; outside it, Detroit draws the most (7%, 29 miles). Clay Township has 1,040 jobs, and 3,590 of its residents work somewhere. Jobs and income earn Clay Township B−; getting around on foot earns it C+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Clay Township and work: the main findings
Clay Township workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 39 minutes each way, against 24 across Michigan. Over a year that’s about 299 hours of commuting, 115 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
No single place dominates Clay Township’s commute
The biggest draw, Detroit, gets only 7% of working residents, and 57% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Clay Township residents fan out across the region. 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Clay Township
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Clay Township is better than 51% of U.S. towns, #397 of 701 in Michigan. Household income holds Clay Township’s grade up ($87,292, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 35% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
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 rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Clay Township could be anywhere from C to A−.
The trip to work from Clay Township: about 39 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clay Township workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,319 commuters (the 10% 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 people from Clay Township work
Where Clay Township clocks in
5% 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 and out of Clay Township on a workday
On a workday 3,354 residents head out to work, 236 work right here, and 804 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,700 people are in Clay Township on a workday afternoon, 31% 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 2021, primary jobs.
What Clay Township’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clay Township, 2011 → 2021: 1,146 → 1,040. 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 Clay Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Clay Township’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Getting around Clay Township: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clay Township is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns, #336 of 701 in Michigan. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 5.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,708 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). 3.1% of Clay Township households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Clay Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Clay Township next to U.S. towns of 5,800 to 11,200: 1,732nd of 3,012 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Grosse Pointe Farms MI | 9,735 | $161K | 2.5% | 1.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,730 | Aberdeen NC | 10,066 | $75K | 10.5% | 3.7% | 10% | B− |
| 1,731 | Hutchins TX | 8,206 | $48K | 18.9% | 2.5% | 4% | B− |
| 1,732 | Clay Township MI | 8,268 | $87K | 8.6% | 4.6% | 7% | B− |
| 1,733 | Greenfield NY | 8,067 | $86K | 15.6% | 3.4% | 5% | B− |
| 1,734 | St. Augustine Beach FL | 6,810 | $101K | 8.1% | 6.7% | 10% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,012 | 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 Clay Township, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
The towns around Clay Township
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Clay Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clay Township | – | B− | C+ | 39 min | $87,292 |
| Ira Township | under 3% | C+ | B− | 29 min | $70,469 |
| Cottrellville Township | under 3% | A− | C− | 33 min | $91,897 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Clay Township’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 Clay Township: questions
What is the median household income in Clay Township?
$87,292 (±$7,948) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clay Township?
8.6%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clay Township?
39 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clay Township work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Detroit (7%, 29 mi), Chesterfield Township (5%, 10 mi), Warren (5%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Clay Township walkable?
Clay Township is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clay Township without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clay Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clay Township
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.