Photo: Unknown photographer · Public domainHouseholds in Montrose earn less than those in 93% of U.S. towns
Montrose grades D for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 28.9% of residents live below the poverty line; Michigan has 13.2%. Home is the office for 6% of workers, next to 14% for Michigan as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Montrose
Young people hold many of the jobs here
33% of the jobs based in Montrose are held by workers 29 or younger, against 24% of Montrose’s own working residents. The jobs ↓
Montrose workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 29 minutes each way, against 24 across Michigan. Over a year that’s about 222 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. 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; with 676 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Montrose’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Montrose is better than 13% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Montrose’s grade up (ahead of 57% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (2.9%) is left out: Montrose’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
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 and poverty, Montrose could be anywhere from D to C−.
The kinds of work in Montrose
421 jobs are based in Montrose.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Montrose, 2011 → 2021: 477 → 421. 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 Montrose’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Montrose, about 29 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Montrose workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 779 commuters (the 6% 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 daily commute in and out of Montrose
On a workday 647 residents head out to work, 29 work right here, and 392 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Montrose on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.62 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
8% of working residents work in Flint
Where Montrose clocks in
4% 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 Montrose goes to work
About 26% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Montrose
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Montrose is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Montrose near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 826 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). 3.8% of Montrose households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Montrose’s commuters take a bus or train.
Montrose places 4,555th of 5,760 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 206 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 249 | Sylvan Lake MI | 1,685 | $106K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,553 | Clinton WI | 1,461 | $73K | 26.3% | 1.1% | 1% | D |
| 4,554 | Holyoke CO | 2,264 | $52K | 18.0% | 3.9% | 33% | D |
| 4,555 | Montrose MI | 1,700 | $44K | 28.9% | 2.9% | 4% | D |
| 4,556 | Warren MN | 1,558 | $60K | 13.9% | 1.9% | 31% | D |
| 4,557 | Stockdale TX | 1,494 | $53K | 24.5% | 5.2% | 10% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Montrose, 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 Montrose: questions
What is the median household income in Montrose?
$44,151 (±$4,404) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Montrose?
28.9%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Montrose?
29 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Montrose work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Flint (8%, 15 mi), Flint Township (7%, 14 mi), Saginaw Township (4%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Montrose walkable?
Montrose is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Montrose without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Montrose, from the people who make the trip.
More of Montrose
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.