Photo: The original uploader was Decumanus at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of St. Clair Shores works elsewhere
Employers in St. Clair Shores report 12,102 jobs for 26,186 working residents. Jobs and income earn St. Clair Shores B+; getting around on foot earns it B−. About one in ten work in St. Clair Shores itself; outside it, Detroit draws the most (16%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The four measures behind St. Clair Shores’ grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, St. Clair Shores is better than 67% of U.S. towns, #256 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds St. Clair Shores’ grade up (ahead of 92% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (4.4%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate.
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, St. Clair Shores could be anywhere from B to A−.
St. Clair Shores by day and by night
On a workday 23,915 residents head out to work, 2,271 work right here, and 9,831 people come in from elsewhere.
About 44,000 people are in St. Clair Shores on a workday afternoon, 24% fewer 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.
The places St. Clair Shores commutes to
Where St. Clair Shores clocks in
9% of workers
6% 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.
What St. Clair Shores’ employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Clair Shores, 2011 → 2021: 13,241 → 12,102. 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. Clair Shores’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 27 minutes from St. Clair Shores
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Clair Shores workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 25,517 commuters (the 14% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from St. Clair Shores
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.
St. Clair Shores is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, St. Clair Shores is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns, #244 of 701 in Michigan. Both inputs place St. Clair Shores 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 29,592 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.3% of St. Clair Shores households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of St. Clair Shores’ commuters take a bus or train.
St. Clair Shores is 380th of 738 U.S. towns of 41,000 to 78,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Keller TX | 46,078 | $175K | 3.4% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Bloomfield Township MI | 43,904 | $163K | 4.8% | 3.6% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | Meridian Township MI | 44,869 | $87K | 13.1% | 3.6% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 113 | Rochester Hills MI | 77,539 | $121K | 5.2% | 4.1% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 378 | Cuyahoga Falls OH | 50,975 | $73K | 10.5% | 3.2% | 13% | B+ |
| 379 | Plymouth MA | 67,846 | $117K | 6.8% | 5.8% | 24% | B+ |
| 380 | St. Clair Shores MI | 57,872 | $74K | 8.4% | 4.4% | 9% | B+ |
| 381 | Hamden CT | 61,824 | $98K | 9.3% | 5.8% | 11% | B+ |
| 382 | San Rafael CA | 59,410 | $119K | 11.7% | 5.4% | 19% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 738 | 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 St. Clair Shores, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Work in the towns next to St. Clair Shores
The biggest share goes to Clinton Township (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | St. Clair Shores workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Clair Shores | – | B+ | B− | 27 min | $73,500 |
| Roseville | 3% | C+ | B | 26 min | $62,182 |
| Eastpointe | under 2% | C | A | 26 min | $62,325 |
| Clinton Township | 5% | B | B+ | 25 min | $74,244 |
| Village of Grosse Pointe Shores | under 2% | A+ | B− | 23 min | $189,583 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of St. Clair Shores’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. Clair Shores: questions
What is the median household income in St. Clair Shores?
$73,500 (±$2,293) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Clair Shores?
8.4%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Clair Shores?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. Clair Shores work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Detroit (16%, 13 mi), Warren (9%, 7 mi), Troy (6%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is St. Clair Shores walkable?
St. Clair Shores is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. Clair Shores without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Clair Shores, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Clair Shores
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.