Photo: WeaponizingArchitecture · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Monroe (7.3%) is higher than in 84% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are lower than in 74% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Monroe is better than 27% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (A−). About one in seven work in Monroe; the top destination outside it is Frenchtown Township (8%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Monroe, in brief
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Monroe
Job access by car holds Monroe’s grade up (ahead of 78% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
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, Monroe could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Monroe by day and by night
On a workday 6,507 residents head out to work, 1,294 work right here, and 7,577 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 (1.14 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.
Where the trip to work from Monroe ends
Where Monroe clocks in
6% 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.
Inside Monroe’s 8,871 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Monroe, 2011 → 2021: 8,267 → 8,871. 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 Monroe’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Monroe’s commute takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Monroe workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,831 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Monroe
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Monroe
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,399 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). 10.0% of Monroe households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Monroe’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Monroe ranks: 1,560th of 1,860 U.S. towns of 14,000 to 27,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Southfield Township MI | 14,671 | $185K | 4.7% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Berkley MI | 15,145 | $116K | 4.5% | 2.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,558 | Norwalk OH | 17,191 | $61K | 16.3% | 5.4% | 30% | C |
| 1,559 | Port Angeles WA | 20,146 | $63K | 11.5% | 5.1% | 40% | C |
| 1,560 | Monroe MI | 20,076 | $60K | 19.2% | 7.3% | 17% | C |
| 1,561 | Jasmine Estates FL | 23,571 | $51K | 18.1% | 5.0% | 3% | C |
| 1,562 | Uvalde TX | 15,455 | $51K | 23.9% | 1.4% | 38% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,860 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Monroe, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Work next door: 14% of Monroe’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Monroe workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monroe | – | C | A− | 21 min | $59,813 |
| Frenchtown Township | 8% | C+ | C+ | 25 min | $66,225 |
| Monroe Township | 6% | C+ | C+ | 24 min | $66,909 |
| West Monroe | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| South Monroe | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. West Monroe and South Monroe: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Frenchtown Township. Darker towns draw more of Monroe’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 Monroe: questions
What is the median household income in Monroe?
$59,813 (±$6,538) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Monroe?
19.2%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Monroe?
21 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Monroe work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Frenchtown Township (8%, 3 mi), Monroe Township (6%, 3 mi), Toledo (5%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Monroe walkable?
Monroe is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Monroe without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Monroe, from the people who make the trip.
More of Monroe
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.