Durant-Dort Carriage Company Office · Photo: Andrew Jameson · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Flint earn less than those in 97% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 4.5 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 7.2 in Detroit. 34.1% of residents are in poverty, where Michigan as a whole has 13.2%. Jobs and income earn Flint D; 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 Flint apart on work
The jobs in Flint pay better than its residents’ jobs
64% of the jobs based in Flint pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 34% of the jobs Flint residents hold. 87% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Flint. The jobs ↓
Flint is where the jobs are
Flint has 32,857 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Flint draws workers from far and wide
The 32,857 jobs in Flint are filled from a wide area. Flint’s own residents hold 13% and the ten next-biggest home towns 31%; 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.
Jobs & income in Flint: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Flint is better than 11% of U.S. towns, #659 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Flint’s grade up (ahead of 78% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (14.8%, U.S. 5.2%).
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 firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Flint stays D.
Goods, not services: 30% of the jobs in Flint
32,857 jobs are based in Flint.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Flint, 2011 → 2021: 40,386 → 32,857. 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 Flint’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Flint, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 17,419 residents head out to work, 4,337 work right here, and 28,520 people come in from elsewhere.
About 90,000 people are in Flint on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
1.5 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.
Where the people who work in Flint live
Where Flint clocks in
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.
About 23 minutes each way for Flint’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Flint workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 26,322 commuters (the 9% 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.
Flint’s commute, mile by mile
About 20% 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.
Flint is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Flint is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns, #17 of 701 in Michigan. Both inputs place Flint 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 28,768 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 50% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 82% 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). 16.4% of Flint households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Flint’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Flint compares with U.S. towns of 56,000 to 107,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Canton Township MI | 99,714 | $121K | 5.5% | 3.6% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Rochester Hills MI | 77,539 | $121K | 5.2% | 4.1% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 74 | Troy MI | 88,733 | $120K | 5.4% | 4.4% | 20% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 556 | Gulfport MS | 76,506 | $50K | 22.8% | 9.1% | 42% | D |
| 557 | Terre Haute IN | 58,764 | $43K | 24.7% | 6.9% | 46% | D |
| 558 | Flint MI | 79,306 | $38K | 34.1% | 14.8% | 20% | D |
| 559 | Youngstown OH | 58,832 | $34K | 37.3% | 11.9% | 21% | D |
| 560 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Flint, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
18% of Flint works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to Flint Township (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Flint workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flint | – | D | A | 23 min | $37,646 |
| Flint Township | 9% | C | B | 22 min | $61,563 |
| Genesee Township | under 2% | C− | C+ | 28 min | $57,406 |
| Burton | 5% | C | B | 27 min | $60,052 |
| Mount Morris Township | 2% | C− | B+ | 25 min | $46,535 |
| Mundy Township | 2% | B | C− | 29 min | $79,021 |
| Beecher | under 2% | — | — | 26 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Beecher: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Flint’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 Flint: questions
What is the median household income in Flint?
$37,646 (±$1,900) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Flint?
34.1%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Flint?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Flint work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Flint Township (9%, 4 mi), Burton (5%, 4 mi), Grand Blanc Township (4%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Flint walkable?
Flint is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.6 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Flint without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. 50% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Flint, from the people who make the trip.
More of Flint
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.