Photo: Lrgjr72 · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Royal Oak earn more than those in 78% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Royal Oak A; getting around on foot earns it B+. 6.2% of residents live below the poverty line; Michigan has 13.2%. 27% of workers have no commute at all; Michigan has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Royal Oak
Royal Oak trades workers with the towns around it
Royal Oak has about as many jobs (28,426) as working residents (28,144), but they are mostly different people: 25,995 residents leave for work each day while 26,277 people come in. Only 8% of the jobs in Royal Oak are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Royal Oak works from home
27% of Royal Oak workers work from home, against 14% across Michigan. Time on the road ↓
Royal Oak draws workers from far and wide
The 28,426 jobs in Royal Oak are filled from a wide area. Royal Oak’s own residents hold 8% and the ten next-biggest home towns 31%; the other 61% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
What’s behind Royal Oak’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Royal Oak is better than 88% of U.S. towns, #73 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 96% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
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, Royal Oak could be anywhere from A− to A.
Who commutes out of Royal Oak, and who commutes in
On a workday 25,995 residents head out to work, 2,149 work right here, and 26,277 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 (1.01 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.
Time on the road from Royal Oak: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Royal Oak workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 25,664 commuters (the 27% 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 places Royal Oak commutes to
Where Royal Oak clocks in
10% of workers
7% 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.
Most jobs in Royal Oak are in services
28,426 jobs are based in Royal Oak.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Royal Oak, 2011 → 2021: 28,619 → 28,426. 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 Royal Oak’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Royal Oak commutes less than 10 miles
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.
Few in Royal Oak walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Royal Oak is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #155 of 701 in Michigan. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.6% 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 35,348 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). 4.2% of Royal Oak households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Royal Oak’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Royal Oak is 137th of 787 U.S. towns of 40,000 to 78,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Liberty Township OH | 40,625 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Bloomfield Township MI | 43,904 | $163K | 4.8% | 3.6% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 110 | Meridian Township MI | 44,869 | $87K | 13.1% | 3.6% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 119 | Rochester Hills MI | 77,539 | $121K | 5.2% | 4.1% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 135 | Troy Township IL | 50,168 | $109K | 5.5% | 3.7% | 11% | A |
| 136 | Bentonville AR | 63,057 | $113K | 5.2% | 3.1% | 43% | A |
| 137 | Royal Oak MI | 57,583 | $101K | 6.2% | 3.5% | 8% | A |
| 138 | Horizon West FL | 67,416 | $127K | 7.3% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| 139 | Severn MD | 58,402 | $134K | 5.7% | 4.6% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 787 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Royal Oak, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Bordering towns draw 10% of Royal Oak’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Royal Oak workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Oak | – | A | B+ | 24 min | $101,109 |
| Huntington Woods | under 3% | A+ | A− | 21 min | $190,150 |
| Madison Heights | under 3% | B+ | A− | 25 min | $69,503 |
| Clawson | under 3% | A− | A− | 22 min | $88,636 |
| Troy | 10% | A | B | 24 min | $120,045 |
| Berkley | under 3% | A+ | B+ | 22 min | $116,239 |
| Ferndale | under 3% | A− | A− | 23 min | $94,640 |
| Hazel Park | under 3% | B− | A− | 25 min | $67,073 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Troy. Darker towns draw more of Royal Oak’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 Royal Oak: questions
What is the median household income in Royal Oak?
$101,109 (±$3,325) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Royal Oak?
6.2%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Royal Oak?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 27% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Royal Oak work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Detroit (14%, 9 mi), Troy (10%, 5 mi), Warren (7%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Royal Oak walkable?
Royal Oak is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Royal Oak without a car?
<1% 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 Royal Oak, from the people who make the trip.
More of Royal Oak
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.