Photo: Andrew Jameson · CC BY-SA 3.0Few U.S. towns have household incomes as low as Highland Park’s
Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. 40.9% of residents are in poverty, where Michigan as a whole has 13.2%. For jobs and income Highland Park is better than 15% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (A+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Highland Park
Highland Park trades workers with the towns around it
Highland Park has about as many jobs (3,253) as working residents (2,828), but they are mostly different people: 2,788 residents leave for work each day while 3,213 people come in. Only 1% of the jobs in Highland Park are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
The jobs in Highland Park pay better than its residents’ jobs
65% of the jobs based in Highland Park pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 36% of the jobs Highland Park residents hold. 99% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Highland Park. The jobs ↓
Highland Park and Detroit trade workers both ways
Detroit is the top workplace for Highland Park residents (25%) and also where the most people who work in Highland Park come from (24% of its jobs). 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.
How Highland Park earns its Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Highland Park’s grade up (ahead of 96% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (18.7%, 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 three years behind.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Highland Park could be anywhere from D to C−.
In and out of Highland Park on a workday
On a workday 2,788 residents head out to work, 40 work right here, and 3,213 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.15 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2021, primary jobs.
65% of the jobs in Highland Park pay over $3,333 a month
3,253 jobs are based in Highland Park.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Highland Park, 2011 → 2021: 3,542 → 3,253. 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 Highland Park’s own residents hold wherever they work.
25% of working residents work in Detroit
Where Highland Park 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.
Highland Park’s commute takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Highland Park workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,631 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.
Half of Highland Park commutes less than 11 miles
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.
Highland Park is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,887 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, 78% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 9.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 93% 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). 29.2% of Highland Park households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 12% of Highland Park’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,956 U.S. towns of 5,800 to 11,100, Highland Park comes 2,656th 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Grosse Pointe Farms MI | 9,735 | $161K | 2.5% | 1.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,654 | Othello WA | 9,237 | $66K | 24.1% | 5.5% | 47% | C− |
| 2,655 | Abbeville LA | 10,861 | $33K | 32.4% | 5.5% | 22% | C− |
| 2,656 | Highland Park MI | 8,248 | $29K | 40.9% | 18.7% | 1% | C− |
| 2,657 | Hillcrest CA | 10,511 | $46K | 31.4% | 8.7% | 2% | C− |
| 2,658 | De Queen AR | 6,045 | $53K | 17.1% | 4.8% | 45% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,956 | 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 Highland Park, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
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 Highland Park: questions
What is the median household income in Highland Park?
$29,309 (±$10,451) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Highland Park?
40.9%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Highland Park?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Highland Park work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Detroit (25%, 2 mi), Southfield (5%, 10 mi), Warren (5%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Highland Park walkable?
Highland Park is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.5 out of 20, and 16% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Highland Park without a car?
12% of commuters take transit and 29% of households have no car. 78% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Highland Park, from the people who make the trip.
More of Highland Park
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.