Photo: Drdpw · CC BY-SA 4.0Sandusky draws 2,372 commuters a day, with 2.7 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Sandusky report 2,699 jobs; 997 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Sandusky is better than 16% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (A). Working from home is the commute for 1% of workers; Michigan has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Sandusky at work: what stands out
Sandusky is where the jobs are
Sandusky has 2,699 jobs, 2.7 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 4,400 people are in town, 64% more than the 2,700 who live here. Day and night ↓
Few Sandusky workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 14% across Michigan. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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 997 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Sandusky
Unemployment holds Sandusky’s grade up (5.0%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 19% of U.S. towns).
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, Sandusky could be anywhere from D− to B.
Sandusky on a workday afternoon
On a workday 670 residents head out to work and 327 work right here.
About 4,400 people are in Sandusky on a workday afternoon, 64% more 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.
Getting to work from Sandusky takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sandusky workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,204 commuters (the 1% 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 trip into Sandusky
Where Sandusky clocks in
Lines 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.
A place that makes things: 28% of Sandusky’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sandusky, 2011 → 2021: 2,333 → 2,699. 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 Sandusky’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Sandusky
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Sandusky
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,218 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 Sandusky households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Sandusky’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,899th of 4,797: where Sandusky ranks among U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,600
| # | 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Franklin MI | 3,134 | $194K | 2.8% | 2.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 127 | Village of Grosse Pointe Shores MI | 2,533 | $190K | 2.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 216 | Milton Township MI | 3,187 | $119K | 3.2% | 2.3% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,897 | Richmondville NY | 2,460 | $51K | 12.2% | 4.9% | 5% | C− |
| 3,898 | Wailua HI | 2,697 | $69K | 12.8% | 10.4% | 7% | C− |
| 3,899 | Sandusky MI | 2,664 | $57K | 16.1% | 5.0% | 33% | C− |
| 3,900 | St. Charles MI | 1,941 | $50K | 15.3% | 5.7% | 9% | C− |
| 3,901 | East Helena MT | 2,325 | $60K | 16.5% | 7.9% | 6% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,797 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Sandusky, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Around Sandusky: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Watertown Township (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sandusky workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandusky | – | C− | A | 24 min | $56,563 |
| Watertown Township | 4% | B− | C− | 25 min | $72,750 |
| Custer Township | 3% | — | — | 25 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Custer Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sandusky’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 Sandusky: questions
What is the median household income in Sandusky?
$56,563 (±$30,981) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sandusky?
16.1%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sandusky?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sandusky work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Watertown Township (4%, 4 mi), Marlette (3%, 14 mi), Marion Township (3%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Sandusky walkable?
Sandusky is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.6 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sandusky without a car?
2% 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 Sandusky, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sandusky
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.