John Chambers House · Photo: Andrew Jameson · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer people are out of work in St. Ignace (1.6%) than in 89% of U.S. towns
About one in three work in St. Ignace itself; outside it, Sault Ste. Marie draws the most (8%, 44 miles). St. Ignace grades C for jobs and income and A for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 7% of workers, against 14% across Michigan.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in St. Ignace: the gist
St. Ignace’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside St. Ignace is Sault Ste. Marie, 44 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (65) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Jobs in St. Ignace have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in St. Ignace went from 452 in 2011 to 1,000 in 2021, +121%. The jobs ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of St. Ignace’s working residents have a job less than 5 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 31 minutes, longer than the Michigan average of 24. The reason is the way people travel: 30% of commuters take transit, against 4% nationally. How people get to work ↓ 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 786 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in St. Ignace
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, St. Ignace is better than 27% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds St. Ignace’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns).
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. Ignace could be anywhere from D to C+.
How far St. Ignace’s workers travel
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.
The kinds of work in St. Ignace
1,000 jobs are based in St. Ignace.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Ignace, 2011 → 2021: 452 → 1,000. 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. Ignace’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 31 minutes each way for St. Ignace’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Ignace workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,070 commuters (the 7% 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.
St. Ignace on a workday afternoon
On a workday 509 residents head out to work, 277 work right here, and 723 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 (1.27 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 the trip to work from St. Ignace ends
Where St. Ignace clocks in
8% 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.
St. Ignace is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, St. Ignace is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 33.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 9.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,152 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). 17.1% of St. Ignace households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 30% of St. Ignace’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,748th of 5,552: where St. Ignace ranks among U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,200
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Franklin MI | 3,134 | $194K | 2.8% | 2.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 145 | Village of Grosse Pointe Shores MI | 2,533 | $190K | 2.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,746 | Arroyo Seco NM | 2,112 | $62K | 9.0% | 4.5% | 4% | C |
| 3,747 | Carrollton IL | 2,349 | $60K | 11.8% | 3.8% | 21% | C |
| 3,748 | St. Ignace MI | 2,351 | $65K | 24.6% | 1.6% | 35% | C |
| 3,749 | Mason City IL | 1,956 | $67K | 16.7% | 4.2% | 21% | C |
| 3,750 | Medicine Lodge KS | 1,707 | $59K | 5.9% | 0.6% | 38% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,552 | 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. Ignace, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Work next door: 12% of St. Ignace’s workers
The biggest share goes to Moran Township (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | St. Ignace workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Ignace | – | C | A | 31 min | $64,663 |
| Moran Township | 6% | C− | C+ | 20 min | $68,059 |
| St. Ignace Township | 6% | D− | C+ | 18 min | $52,656 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of St. Ignace’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. Ignace: questions
What is the median household income in St. Ignace?
$64,663 (±$9,244) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Ignace?
24.6%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Ignace?
31 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. Ignace work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sault Ste. Marie (8%, 44 mi), Moran Township (6%, 15 mi), Mackinac Island (6%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is St. Ignace walkable?
St. Ignace is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 33% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. Ignace without a car?
30% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Ignace, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Ignace
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.