Photo: Rmhermen · CC BY-SA 4.0Dearborn draws 68,250 commuters a day, with 2.1 jobs for every working resident
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 7.2 in Detroit. Dearborn has 76,721 jobs, and 36,209 of its residents work somewhere. Jobs and income earn Dearborn C; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Dearborn apart on work
Dearborn is where the jobs are
Dearborn has 76,721 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Dearborn and Detroit trade workers both ways
Detroit is the top workplace for Dearborn residents (15%) and also where the most people who work in Dearborn come from (11% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Dearborn draws workers from far and wide
The 76,721 jobs in Dearborn are filled from a wide area. Dearborn’s own residents hold 11% and the ten next-biggest home towns 33%; 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 Dearborn’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dearborn is better than 35% of U.S. towns, #525 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Dearborn’s grade up (ahead of 94% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (24.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
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, Dearborn could be anywhere from C to C+.
Who leaves Dearborn for work, and who comes in
On a workday 27,738 residents head out to work and 8,471 work right here.
About 146,000 people are in Dearborn on a workday afternoon, 38% more 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.
The towns that send workers to Dearborn
Where Dearborn 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.
What Dearborn’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dearborn, 2011 → 2021: 77,764 → 76,721. 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 Dearborn’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes each way, quicker than most of Michigan
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dearborn workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 35,516 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.
How far it is to work from Dearborn
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: Dearborn
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dearborn is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns, #96 of 701 in Michigan. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.8% across Michigan.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 40,905 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 56% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 21% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 77% 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). 8.3% of Dearborn households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Dearborn’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
346th of 411: where Dearborn ranks among U.S. towns of 74,000 to 143,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| 3 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Canton Township MI | 99,714 | $121K | 5.5% | 3.6% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Rochester Hills MI | 77,539 | $121K | 5.2% | 4.1% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 45 | Troy MI | 88,733 | $120K | 5.4% | 4.4% | 20% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 344 | San Marcos TX | 77,830 | $51K | 26.9% | 5.2% | 26% | C+ |
| 345 | Joliet Township IL | 86,200 | $64K | 18.4% | 7.2% | 15% | C+ |
| 346 | Dearborn MI | 105,611 | $65K | 24.3% | 6.6% | 23% | C |
| 347 | Portsmouth VA | 96,777 | $60K | 17.3% | 6.6% | 17% | C |
| 348 | Lehigh Acres FL | 132,353 | $67K | 17.1% | 4.5% | 9% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 411 | Flint MI | 79,306 | $38K | 34.1% | 14.8% | 20% | 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 Dearborn, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
17% of Dearborn works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Detroit (15%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dearborn workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dearborn | – | C | A− | 22 min | $65,324 |
| Detroit | 15% | C− | A+ | 25 min | $39,938 |
| Melvindale | under 2% | C− | B+ | 25 min | $42,185 |
| Dearborn Heights | 2% | C | B | 24 min | $60,391 |
| Allen Park | under 2% | B+ | C+ | 24 min | $81,655 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Dearborn’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 Dearborn: questions
What is the median household income in Dearborn?
$65,324 (±$3,496) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dearborn?
24.3%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dearborn?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dearborn work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Detroit (15%, 7 mi), Southfield (4%, 11 mi), Livonia (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Dearborn walkable?
Dearborn is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dearborn without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 21% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dearborn, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dearborn
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.