Photo: TheKuLeR · CC BY-SA 3.0Lake Orion has lower unemployment (0.7%) than 96% of U.S. towns
23% of workers work from home; Michigan has 14%. Jobs and income earn Lake Orion A; getting around on foot earns it A−. Household incomes here are higher than in 78% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Lake Orion
Lake Orion is where the jobs are
Lake Orion has 2,412 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A lot of Lake Orion works from home
23% of Lake Orion workers work from home, against 14% across Michigan. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Lake Orion
62% of Lake Orion residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 43% of the jobs based in Lake Orion pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 92% 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.
Lake Orion’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lake Orion is better than 89% of U.S. towns, #66 of 701 in Michigan. Unemployment is its strongest input; the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (9.2%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate 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 fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lake Orion could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Lake Orion on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,308 residents head out to work, 107 work right here, and 2,305 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,900 people are in Lake Orion on a workday afternoon, 34% more than live here.
1.7 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.
Each way, about 28 minutes from Lake Orion
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Orion workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,242 commuters (the 23% 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 2,412 jobs based in Lake Orion
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Orion, 2011 → 2021: 1,917 → 2,412. 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 Lake Orion’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip into Lake Orion
Where Lake Orion clocks in
13% of workers
9% of workers
9% 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.
How far Lake Orion goes to work
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 Lake Orion, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lake Orion is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns, #100 of 701 in Michigan. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.7% 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 1,620 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 15.7% of Lake Orion households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lake Orion’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lake Orion is 420th of 4,882 U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,900 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Franklin MI | 3,134 | $194K | 2.8% | 2.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 144 | Village of Grosse Pointe Shores MI | 2,533 | $190K | 2.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 240 | Milton Township MI | 3,187 | $119K | 3.2% | 2.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 418 | Oshkosh WI | 2,436 | $103K | 5.6% | 2.2% | <1% | A |
| 419 | Sandia Heights NM | 3,160 | $144K | 4.7% | 3.5% | 2% | A |
| 420 | Lake Orion MI | 2,900 | $101K | 9.2% | 0.7% | 8% | A |
| 421 | Hartford SD | 3,635 | $100K | 5.5% | 0.9% | 10% | A |
| 422 | Abernathy TX | 2,826 | $88K | 3.0% | 1.0% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,882 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 0% | 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 Lake Orion, 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 Lake Orion: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Orion?
$101,318 (±$20,746) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Orion?
9.2%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Orion?
28 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake Orion work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Orion Township (13%, 2 mi), Auburn Hills (9%, 8 mi), Troy (9%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Lake Orion walkable?
Lake Orion is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 10.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Orion without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Orion, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake Orion
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.