Household incomes in St. Charles trail those of 88% of U.S. towns
15.3% of residents live below the poverty line, where Michigan as a whole has 13.2%. Jobs and income earn St. Charles C−; getting around on foot earns it B+. About one in ten stay in St. Charles for work; outside it, Saginaw is the main destination (11%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in St. Charles
Many jobs in St. Charles pay little
33% of the jobs based in St. Charles pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 35% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside St. Charles
48% of St. Charles residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 24% of the jobs based in St. Charles pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 91% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
The quickest commute around
St. Charles’ 27-minute average trip is shorter than in any town next door, where it runs from 30 to 34 minutes. Next door ↓
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 745 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside St. Charles’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, St. Charles is better than 16% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds St. Charles’ grade up (ahead of 38% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($50,000, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (5.7%) is left out: St. Charles’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
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 and poverty, St. Charles could be anywhere from D to C+.
The kinds of work in St. Charles
504 jobs are based in St. Charles.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Charles, 2011 → 2021: 572 → 504. 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 St. Charles’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in St. Charles by day
On a workday 675 residents head out to work, 70 work right here, and 434 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in St. Charles on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.68 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.
Where people from St. Charles work
Where St. Charles clocks in
11% of workers
8% 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.
St. Charles’ commute takes about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Charles workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 748 commuters (the 10% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from St. Charles
About 20% 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.
Driving is how St. Charles gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, St. Charles is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place St. Charles 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 835 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). 9.1% of St. Charles households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of St. Charles’ commuters take a bus or train.
St. Charles is 4,009th of 5,234 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,600 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 131 | Village of Grosse Pointe Shores MI | 2,533 | $190K | 2.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 196 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,007 | Colchester NY | 1,745 | $67K | 12.2% | 10.0% | 23% | C− |
| 4,008 | Ovid MI | 1,498 | $50K | 22.4% | 0.8% | 6% | C− |
| 4,009 | St. Charles MI | 1,941 | $50K | 15.3% | 5.7% | 9% | C− |
| 4,010 | East Helena MT | 2,325 | $60K | 16.5% | 7.9% | 6% | C− |
| 4,011 | Hubbard TX | 1,507 | $51K | 15.4% | 6.9% | 10% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,234 | 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 St. Charles, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
St. Charles and its neighbors: 13% work next door
The biggest share goes to St. Charles Township (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | St. Charles workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Charles | – | C− | B+ | 27 min | $50,000 |
| St. Charles Township | 10% | C+ | B− | 31 min | $62,939 |
| Brant Township | under 2% | B− | D− | 34 min | $75,069 |
| Swan Creek Township | 3% | B− | C | 30 min | $72,895 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of St. Charles’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 St. Charles: questions
What is the median household income in St. Charles?
$50,000 (±$11,127) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Charles?
15.3%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Charles?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. Charles work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Saginaw (11%, 13 mi), St. Charles Township (10%, 3 mi), Saginaw Township (8%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is St. Charles walkable?
St. Charles 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 St. Charles without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Charles, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Charles
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.