Photo: TCP04 · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Shelby are lower than in 88% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Shelby are D for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. 20.0% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 13.2% for Michigan as a whole. 1% of workers work from home; Michigan has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Shelby apart on work
Commutes from Shelby are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan worker. Time on the road ↓
Shelby makes and builds things
37% of the jobs based in Shelby are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Shelby residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 41%. The jobs ↓
Few Shelby 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 711 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Shelby earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Shelby is better than 9% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Shelby’s grade up (ahead of 28% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($49,855, 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 two years behind.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Shelby could be anywhere from D− to C.
Each way, about 15 minutes from Shelby
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shelby workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,114 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.
A place that makes things: 37% of Shelby’s jobs are in goods
524 jobs are based in Shelby.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shelby, 2011 → 2021: 477 → 524. 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 Shelby’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Shelby for work, and who comes in
On a workday 667 residents head out to work, 44 work right here, and 480 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.
0.74 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.
12% of working residents work in Hart Township
Where Shelby clocks in
9% 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.
The distance from Shelby 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.
Getting around Shelby: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Shelby is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Shelby 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 1,127 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). 6.1% of Shelby households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Shelby’s commuters take a bus or train.
Shelby is 4,672nd of 5,404 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 132 | Village of Grosse Pointe Shores MI | 2,533 | $190K | 2.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 213 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,670 | Nebo NC | 1,670 | $50K | 16.9% | 0.0% | 2% | D |
| 4,671 | Webster County GA | 2,369 | $47K | 22.3% | 4.2% | 15% | D |
| 4,672 | Shelby MI | 2,185 | $50K | 20.0% | 6.6% | 6% | D |
| 4,673 | Hudson MI | 2,347 | $53K | 17.8% | 7.9% | 16% | D |
| 4,674 | Townsend MT | 2,272 | $71K | 15.6% | 13.3% | 24% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Shelby, 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 Shelby: questions
What is the median household income in Shelby?
$49,855 (±$8,627) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shelby?
20.0%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shelby?
15 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shelby work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hart Township (12%, 5 mi), Shelby Township (11%, 2 mi), Whitehall (9%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Shelby walkable?
Shelby is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shelby without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shelby, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shelby
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.