St. Clair Inn · Photo: Notorious4life · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer people are out of work in St. Clair (0.8%) than in 96% of U.S. towns
St. Clair grades B+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in ten work in St. Clair itself; outside it, Port Huron draws the most (8%, 12 miles). Commuters spend 22 minutes getting to work on average; Michigan averages 24, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: St. Clair in brief
St. Clair trades workers with the towns around it
St. Clair has about as many jobs (2,598) as working residents (2,332), but they are mostly different people: 2,093 residents leave for work each day while 2,359 people come in. Only 9% of the jobs in St. Clair are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
The quickest commute around
St. Clair’s 22-minute average trip is shorter than in any town next door, where it runs from 27 to 35 minutes. Next door ↓
No single place dominates St. Clair’s commute
The biggest draw, Port Huron, gets only 8% of working residents, and 53% work outside the top ten towns entirely. St. Clair residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
St. Clair makes and builds things
40% of the jobs based in St. Clair are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs St. Clair residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 26%. 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.
St. Clair’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, St. Clair is better than 71% of U.S. towns, #224 of 701 in Michigan. Unemployment holds St. Clair’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($69,688, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
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 could be anywhere from B− to A.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 2,093 residents head out to work, 239 work right here, and 2,359 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.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.11 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.
Where St. Clair’s working residents head each day
Where St. Clair clocks in
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.
Factories, building and farms: 40% of the jobs in St. Clair
2,598 jobs are based in St. Clair.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Clair, 2011 → 2021: 2,060 → 2,598. 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’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes each way for St. Clair’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Clair workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,465 commuters (the 8% 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.
Miles to work from St. Clair
About 19% 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.
Most trips from St. Clair start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, St. Clair is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #151 of 701 in Michigan. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.8% across Michigan.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,669 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). 4.7% of St. Clair households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of St. Clair’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 4,100 to 7,900, St. Clair ranks 1,120th of 3,432 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Northville MI | 6,013 | $146K | 2.8% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 114 | Vergennes Township MI | 4,968 | $113K | 1.5% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,118 | Gardiner NY | 5,621 | $115K | 9.1% | 3.2% | 10% | B+ |
| 1,119 | Shackle Island TN | 4,404 | $130K | 6.7% | 7.2% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,120 | St. Clair MI | 5,833 | $70K | 7.1% | 0.8% | 10% | B+ |
| 1,121 | Cazenovia NY | 6,641 | $108K | 3.3% | 4.9% | 18% | B+ |
| 1,122 | Breese IL | 4,602 | $85K | 4.2% | 3.8% | 20% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,432 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Next door to St. Clair
The biggest share goes to China Township (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | St. Clair workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Clair | – | B+ | B+ | 22 min | $69,688 |
| St. Clair Township | under 3% | B+ | D | 27 min | $93,068 |
| East China Township | under 3% | C | D | 35 min | $71,517 |
| China Township | 2% | B | D | 30 min | $98,879 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of St. Clair’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: questions
What is the median household income in St. Clair?
$69,688 (±$13,933) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Clair?
7.1%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Clair?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. Clair work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Port Huron (8%, 12 mi), Marysville (6%, 6 mi), Detroit (5%, 44 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is St. Clair walkable?
St. Clair is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. Clair without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Clair, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Clair
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.