John T. Woodhouse House · Photo: Appraiser · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Grosse Pointe Farms earn more than those in 96% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 2.5%, next to 13.2% for Michigan as a whole. Grosse Pointe Farms grades A+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 5.0 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 7.2 in Detroit.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Grosse Pointe Farms apart
Grosse Pointe Farms has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Grosse Pointe Farms went from 1,768 in 2011 to 3,012 in 2021, +70%. The jobs ↓
Grosse Pointe Farms and Detroit trade workers both ways
Detroit is the top workplace for Grosse Pointe Farms residents (22%) and also where the most people who work in Grosse Pointe Farms come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A lot of Grosse Pointe Farms works from home
25% of Grosse Pointe Farms workers work from home, against 14% across Michigan. Time on the road ↓
Nearly all the work in Grosse Pointe Farms is services
91% 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 ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Grosse Pointe Farms
72% of Grosse Pointe Farms residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 53% of the jobs based in Grosse Pointe Farms pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 95% leave town for their job. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Grosse Pointe Farms gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Grosse Pointe Farms is among the top U.S. towns, #5 of 701 in Michigan. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Grosse Pointe Farms’ grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
The commuting and job counts on this page are Census LEHD 2021: Michigan reports later than other states, so its newest year is three years behind.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Grosse Pointe Farms stays A+.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Grosse Pointe Farms
3,012 jobs are based in Grosse Pointe Farms.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Grosse Pointe Farms, 2011 → 2021: 1,768 → 3,012. 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 Grosse Pointe Farms’s own residents hold wherever they work.
22% of working residents work in Detroit
Where Grosse Pointe Farms clocks in
5% of workers
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.
The daily trip from Grosse Pointe Farms: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Grosse Pointe Farms workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,783 commuters (the 25% 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 daily commute in and out of Grosse Pointe Farms
On a workday 4,031 residents head out to work, 201 work right here, and 2,811 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,500 people are in Grosse Pointe Farms on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.71 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
How many miles Grosse Pointe Farms commutes
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.
Grosse Pointe Farms is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Grosse Pointe Farms is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #106 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 5,062 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 47% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 13% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 5.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 84% 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). 8.7% of Grosse Pointe Farms households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Grosse Pointe Farms’ commuters take a bus or train.
Grosse Pointe Farms is 27th of 2,780 U.S. towns of 6,800 to 13,100 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Lincoln MA | 6,925 | $175K | 2.3% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| 26 | Weston MA | 11,729 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.2% | 7% | A+ |
| 27 | Grosse Pointe Farms MI | 9,735 | $161K | 2.5% | 1.9% | 5% | A+ |
| 28 | Victoria MN | 12,447 | $196K | 2.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A+ |
| 29 | Pepper Pike OH | 6,886 | $228K | 1.8% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Jamestown Township MI | 10,702 | $120K | 2.8% | 1.1% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 93 | Plymouth MI | 9,164 | $112K | 3.2% | 2.3% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,780 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Grosse Pointe Farms, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Grosse Pointe Farms and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Grosse Pointe (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Grosse Pointe Farms workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grosse Pointe Farms | – | A+ | A− | 24 min | $161,208 |
| Grosse Pointe | 3% | A | A | 24 min | $158,853 |
| Grosse Pointe Woods | 3% | A− | B | 24 min | $126,395 |
| Village of Grosse Pointe Shores | under 3% | A+ | B− | 23 min | $189,583 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Grosse Pointe Farms’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 Grosse Pointe Farms: questions
What is the median household income in Grosse Pointe Farms?
$161,208 (±$14,921) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Grosse Pointe Farms?
2.5%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Grosse Pointe Farms?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 25% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Grosse Pointe Farms work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Detroit (22%, 11 mi), Warren (5%, 10 mi), Troy (5%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Grosse Pointe Farms walkable?
Grosse Pointe Farms is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Grosse Pointe Farms without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 13% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Grosse Pointe Farms, from the people who make the trip.
More of Grosse Pointe Farms
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.