Leslie has 0.6 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Only 5% work in Leslie itself; outside it, Lansing draws the most (18%, 19 miles). There are 372 jobs in Leslie for 662 working residents. Leslie grades B for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Inside Leslie’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Leslie is better than 57% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Leslie’s grade up (3.1%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (12.9%, 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 rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Leslie could be anywhere from C to A−.
The daily commute in and out of Leslie
On a workday 630 residents head out to work, 32 work right here, and 340 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Leslie on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer 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.
Where the trip to work from Leslie ends
Where Leslie clocks in
18% of workers
6% 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.
Leslie makes things: 28% of its jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Leslie, 2011 → 2021: 300 → 372. 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 Leslie’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Leslie: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Leslie workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 957 commuters (the 7% 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 commute from Leslie, by distance
About 22% 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.
Leslie is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Leslie is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% 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 1,032 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). 2.5% of Leslie households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Leslie’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,234 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,600, Leslie comes 1,726th 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 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 131 | Village of Grosse Pointe Shores MI | 2,533 | $190K | 2.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 196 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,724 | Redfield AR | 1,492 | $72K | 8.3% | 3.0% | 2% | B |
| 1,725 | North Liberty IN | 1,624 | $75K | 8.3% | 6.4% | 5% | B |
| 1,726 | Leslie MI | 1,937 | $74K | 12.9% | 3.1% | 5% | B |
| 1,727 | West Homestead PA | 1,778 | $77K | 6.9% | 8.4% | 4% | B |
| 1,728 | Collinsville TX | 2,076 | $60K | 11.5% | 0.7% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,234 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Leslie, 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 Leslie: questions
What is the median household income in Leslie?
$73,654 (±$7,811) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Leslie?
12.9%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Leslie?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Leslie work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lansing (18%, 19 mi), Mason (6%, 9 mi), Delta Township (5%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Leslie walkable?
Leslie is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Leslie without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Leslie, from the people who make the trip.
More of Leslie
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.