Photo: WeaponizingArchitecture · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Saginaw have lower incomes than those in 97% of U.S. towns
About one in five stay in Saginaw for work; outside it, Saginaw Township is the main destination (16%, 4 miles). The poverty rate is 34.0%, against 13.2% across Michigan. Jobs and income earn Saginaw D; getting around on foot earns it B+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Saginaw and work: the main findings
The jobs in Saginaw pay better than its residents’ jobs
64% of the jobs based in Saginaw pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 34% of the jobs Saginaw residents hold. 87% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Saginaw. The jobs ↓
Saginaw is where the jobs are
Saginaw has 22,186 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Saginaw and Saginaw Township trade workers both ways
Saginaw Township is the top workplace for Saginaw residents (16%) and also where the most people who work in Saginaw come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Saginaw are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan 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.
The figures behind Saginaw’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Saginaw is better than 12% of U.S. towns, #658 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Saginaw’s grade up (ahead of 73% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate 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 firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Saginaw stays D.
Inside Saginaw’s 22,186 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Saginaw, 2011 → 2021: 26,660 → 22,186. 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 Saginaw’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Saginaw on a workday afternoon
On a workday 10,605 residents head out to work, 2,856 work right here, and 19,330 people come in from elsewhere.
About 52,000 people are in Saginaw on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
1.6 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.
Where Saginaw’s workforce comes from
Where Saginaw clocks in
16% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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.
About 19 minutes each way, quicker than most of Michigan
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Saginaw workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 15,149 commuters (the 8% 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 distance from Saginaw to work
About 28% 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.
Most of Saginaw commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Saginaw is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #124 of 701 in Michigan. Both inputs place Saginaw 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 16,414 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). 13.5% of Saginaw households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Saginaw’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 30,000 to 58,000, and where Saginaw sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Northville Township MI | 31,399 | $151K | 3.1% | 2.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Bloomfield Township MI | 43,904 | $163K | 4.8% | 3.6% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Independence Township MI | 37,725 | $115K | 4.3% | 2.9% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 992 | Binghamton NY | 46,418 | $46K | 32.6% | 10.2% | 29% | D |
| 993 | Gadsden AL | 33,367 | $40K | 28.1% | 7.2% | 40% | D |
| 994 | Saginaw MI | 42,863 | $39K | 34.0% | 10.1% | 21% | D |
| 995 | Nacogdoches TX | 32,500 | $39K | 31.5% | 8.2% | 42% | D |
| 996 | Marion Township OH | 43,499 | $50K | 20.4% | 8.8% | 33% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,011 | 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 Saginaw, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
20% of Saginaw works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Saginaw workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saginaw | – | D | B+ | 19 min | $38,579 |
| Spaulding Township | under 2% | C+ | C+ | 22 min | $61,518 |
| Buena Vista Township | 2% | C− | B− | 20 min | $44,397 |
| Saginaw Township | 16% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Bridgeport Township | 2% | C− | C− | 27 min | $52,462 |
| James Township | under 2% | B− | D | 28 min | $70,000 |
| Carrollton Township | under 2% | D | C− | 17 min | $50,399 |
Same-state neighbors only. Saginaw Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Saginaw Township. Darker towns draw more of Saginaw’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 Saginaw: questions
What is the median household income in Saginaw?
$38,579 (±$1,907) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Saginaw?
34.0%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Saginaw?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Saginaw work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Saginaw Township (16%, 4 mi), Midland (3%, 20 mi), Lansing (3%, 57 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Saginaw walkable?
Saginaw is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Saginaw without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Saginaw, from the people who make the trip.
More of Saginaw
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.