Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Sault Ste. Marie earn less than those in 81% of U.S. towns
17.8% of residents are in poverty, where Michigan as a whole has 13.2%. For jobs and income Sault Ste. Marie is better than 16% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (A). Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers, against 14% across Michigan.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Sault Ste. Marie
Commutes from Sault Ste. Marie are quick
The average trip to work takes 12 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Sault Ste. Marie workers earn over $40,000 a year
42% of Sault Ste. Marie’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Sault Ste. Marie: the grade in detail
Unemployment holds Sault Ste. Marie’s grade up (4.9%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($55,328, U.S. $80,734).
The commuting and job counts on this page are Census LEHD 2021: Michigan reports later than other states, so its newest year is three years behind.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sault Ste. Marie could be anywhere from D to C.
Commuting from Sault Ste. Marie: about 12 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sault Ste. Marie workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,437 commuters (the 5% 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.
Jobs in Sault Ste. Marie: what the 6,681 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sault Ste. Marie, 2011 → 2021: 7,369 → 6,681. 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 Sault Ste. Marie’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Sault Ste. Marie fills up on a workday
On a workday 1,834 residents head out to work, 2,730 work right here, and 3,951 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Sault Ste. Marie on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.46 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.
5% of working residents work in Kinross Township
Where Sault Ste. Marie clocks in
2% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Sault Ste. Marie
About 24% 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.
In Sault Ste. Marie, walking beats the bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 11.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 8.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,743 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). 9.7% of Sault Ste. Marie households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Sault Ste. Marie’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Sault Ste. Marie sits among U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Grosse Pointe Farms MI | 9,735 | $161K | 2.5% | 1.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,284 | Malvern AR | 11,144 | $46K | 20.2% | 5.6% | 22% | C− |
| 2,285 | Riverdale IL | 10,280 | $40K | 41.5% | 16.1% | 2% | C− |
| 2,286 | Sault Ste. Marie MI | 13,083 | $55K | 17.8% | 4.9% | 60% | C− |
| 2,287 | Sharon PA | 12,648 | $46K | 20.0% | 9.4% | 15% | C− |
| 2,288 | Baker LA | 12,136 | $55K | 29.8% | 16.6% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Sault Ste. Marie, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
How Sault Ste. Marie compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Soo Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sault Ste. Marie workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sault Ste. Marie | – | C− | A | 12 min | $55,328 |
| Soo Township | 3% | B | D | 17 min | $79,107 |
| Sugar Island Township | under 1% | — | — | 30 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Sugar Island Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sault Ste. Marie’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 Sault Ste. Marie: questions
What is the median household income in Sault Ste. Marie?
$55,328 (±$5,507) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sault Ste. Marie?
17.8%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sault Ste. Marie?
12 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sault Ste. Marie work?
60% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kinross Township (5%, 19 mi), Soo Township (3%, 17 mi), Marquette (2%, 144 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Sault Ste. Marie walkable?
Sault Ste. Marie is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sault Ste. Marie 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 Sault Ste. Marie, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sault Ste. Marie
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.