Photo: Notorious4life at English Wikipedia · Public domainImlay City draws 2,285 commuters a day, with 1.8 jobs for every working resident
Imlay City grades C+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. Employers in Imlay City report 2,575 jobs for 1,441 working residents. 2% of workers have no commute at all (Michigan 14%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Imlay City stands out on work
Imlay City is where the jobs are
Imlay City has 2,575 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Imlay City makes and builds things
43% of the jobs based in Imlay City are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Imlay City residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 32%. The jobs ↓
Imlay City workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 24 across Michigan. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Imlay City workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 14% across Michigan. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 Imlay City earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Imlay City is better than 40% of U.S. towns, #493 of 701 in Michigan. Unemployment holds Imlay City’s grade up (2.1%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (23.5%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on 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 two years behind.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Imlay City could be anywhere from C− to B.
Imlay City on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,151 residents head out to work and 290 work right here.
About 4,900 people are in Imlay City on a workday afternoon, 30% 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.
Making and building: 43% of jobs based in Imlay City
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Imlay City, 2011 → 2021: 2,574 → 2,575. 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 Imlay City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 31 minutes from Imlay City
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Imlay City workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,971 commuters (the 2% 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 the people who work in Imlay City live
Where Imlay City clocks in
5% of workers
3% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Imlay City
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.
In Imlay City, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Imlay City is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns, #191 of 701 in Michigan. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% 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 2,019 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 6.7% of Imlay City households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Imlay City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Imlay City next to U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,100: 2,735th of 4,430 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Franklin MI | 3,134 | $194K | 2.8% | 2.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 119 | Vergennes Township MI | 4,968 | $113K | 1.5% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Ann Arbor Township MI | 4,506 | $165K | 7.2% | 0.5% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,733 | Buckhorn CA | 3,504 | $90K | 10.9% | 3.7% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,734 | Belfair WA | 4,557 | $88K | 6.4% | 7.4% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,735 | Imlay City MI | 3,753 | $60K | 23.5% | 2.1% | 20% | C+ |
| 2,736 | Dillon MT | 4,271 | $61K | 11.5% | 1.2% | 45% | C+ |
| 2,737 | Monroe UT | 2,738 | $66K | 6.7% | 3.5% | 10% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,430 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Imlay City, 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 Imlay City: questions
What is the median household income in Imlay City?
$59,911 (±$17,109) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Imlay City?
23.5%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Imlay City?
31 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Imlay City work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lapeer (5%, 13 mi), Bruce Township (4%, 12 mi), Troy (3%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Imlay City walkable?
Imlay City is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Imlay City without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Imlay City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Imlay City
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.