Photo: WeaponizingArchitecture · CC BY-SA 4.060% of East Lansing’s residents are college students
Jobs and income earn East Lansing A−; getting around on foot earns it A+. Measured by family income, East Lansing is ahead of 81% of U.S. towns. About one in five work in East Lansing itself; outside it, Lansing draws the most (16%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in East Lansing: the gist
East Lansing is where the jobs are
East Lansing has 29,974 jobs, 2.4 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from East Lansing are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan worker. Time on the road ↓
East Lansing and Lansing trade workers both ways
Lansing is the top workplace for East Lansing residents (16%) and also where the most people who work in East Lansing come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
36% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Nearly all the work in East Lansing is services
86% 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.
East Lansing’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Job access by car holds East Lansing’s grade up (ahead of 83% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (10.0%, U.S. 11.9%). It also does well on family income.
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (41% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 10.0%, against 33.0% for all residents. Unemployment (6.6%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($124,964), since student households pull the household median down ($45,687).
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, East Lansing could be anywhere from B to A+.
Who commutes out of East Lansing, and who commutes in
On a workday 10,227 residents head out to work, 2,172 work right here, and 27,802 people come in from elsewhere.
About 67,000 people are in East Lansing on a workday afternoon, 36% more than live here.
2.4 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.
About 16 minutes each way, quicker than most of Michigan
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of East Lansing workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16,549 commuters (the 21% 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 East Lansing’s workers come from
Where East Lansing clocks in
16% 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 distance from East Lansing to work
About 36% 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.
Services make up most of the work in East Lansing
29,974 jobs are based in East Lansing.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in East Lansing, 2011 → 2021: 25,350 → 29,974. 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 East Lansing’s own residents hold wherever they work.
East Lansing is among the most walkable U.S. towns
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, East Lansing is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #3 of 701 in Michigan. Both inputs place East Lansing 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 20,945 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 97% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 62% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 41.0 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). 13.2% of East Lansing households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 6% of East Lansing’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, East Lansing is 279th among 887 U.S. towns of 35,000 to 67,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| 3 | Oakton VA | 36,528 | $161K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Bloomfield Township MI | 43,904 | $163K | 4.8% | 3.6% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 75 | Independence Township MI | 37,725 | $115K | 4.3% | 2.9% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 139 | Meridian Township MI | 44,869 | $87K | 13.1% | 3.6% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 277 | Union Township NJ | 63,675 | $119K | 6.7% | 5.9% | 7% | A− |
| 278 | Palm Beach Gardens FL | 63,883 | $107K | 7.2% | 3.9% | 17% | A− |
| 279 | East Lansing MI | 49,355 | $46K | 33.0% | 6.6% | 18% | A− |
| 280 | Lake Stevens WA | 42,091 | $122K | 5.2% | 4.8% | 7% | A− |
| 281 | Mount Pleasant NY | 45,444 | $143K | 7.0% | 6.1% | 14% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 887 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 East Lansing, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
The towns next door employ 22% of East Lansing
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | East Lansing workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Lansing | – | A− | A+ | 16 min | $45,687 |
| Lansing | 16% | C− | A | 19 min | $54,382 |
| Meridian Township | 4% | A | A | 21 min | $86,909 |
| DeWitt Township | under 2% | A | C | 24 min | $96,824 |
| Haslett | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Bath Township | under 2% | B+ | B | 22 min | $75,541 |
| Lansing Township | 2% | C | A− | 18 min | $48,450 |
| Okemos | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Haslett and Okemos: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Lansing. Darker towns draw more of East Lansing’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. 60% 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 East Lansing: questions
What is the median household income in East Lansing?
$45,687 (±$3,696) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in East Lansing?
33.0% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 10.0%. Michigan: 13.2%.
How long is the commute from East Lansing?
16 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in East Lansing work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lansing (16%, 5 mi), Meridian Township (4%, 4 mi), Delta Township (3%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is East Lansing walkable?
East Lansing is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.1 out of 20, and 33% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around East Lansing without a car?
6% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. 62% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from East Lansing, from the people who make the trip.
More of East Lansing
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.