Photo: Ajay Suresh · CC BY 4.0At 6.1%, unemployment in Sterling Heights is higher than in 75% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 25 minutes each way (Michigan 24, U.S. 26). The two grades for Sterling Heights are B for jobs and income and B− for walkability. About one in ten stay in Sterling Heights for work; outside it, Troy is the main destination (11%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Sterling Heights, in a few figures
Sterling Heights trades workers with the towns around it
Sterling Heights has about as many jobs (52,562) as working residents (52,607), but they are mostly different people: 46,349 residents leave for work each day while 46,304 people come in. Only 12% of the jobs in Sterling Heights are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Sterling Heights works one town over
28% of working residents work in a town that borders Sterling Heights: Troy (11%), Warren (10%) and Clinton Township (4%). Next door ↓
Sterling Heights makes and builds things
35% of the jobs based in Sterling Heights are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Sterling Heights residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 18%. 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.
What’s behind Sterling Heights’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sterling Heights is better than 57% of U.S. towns, #339 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Sterling Heights’ grade up (ahead of 93% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
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, Sterling Heights could be anywhere from B− to B+.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 46,349 residents head out to work, 6,258 work right here, and 46,304 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 (1.00 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.
Sterling Heights works in goods: 35% of its jobs
52,562 jobs are based in Sterling Heights.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sterling Heights, 2011 → 2021: 46,191 → 52,562. 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 Sterling Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Sterling Heights’ working residents head each day
Where Sterling Heights clocks in
11% of workers
10% 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.
Commuting from Sterling Heights: about 25 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sterling Heights workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 52,065 commuters (the 16% 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 Sterling Heights
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 Sterling Heights gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sterling Heights is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns, #222 of 701 in Michigan. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 61,731 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). 7.1% of Sterling Heights households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Sterling Heights’ commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Ranked on jobs and income, Sterling Heights is 153rd among 280 U.S. towns of 94,000 to 181,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 2 | Clay Township IN | 104,932 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 3 | Fishers IN | 104,812 | $130K | 4.0% | 2.8% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Canton Township MI | 99,714 | $121K | 5.5% | 3.6% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Ann Arbor MI | 122,233 | $82K | 23.8% | 3.9% | 48% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Macomb Township MI | 95,099 | $121K | 4.4% | 4.4% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 151 | Fairfield CA | 122,489 | $102K | 10.2% | 5.8% | 19% | B |
| 152 | Metairie LA | 139,729 | $73K | 12.5% | 4.6% | 25% | B |
| 153 | Sterling Heights MI | 133,931 | $80K | 11.1% | 6.1% | 12% | B |
| 154 | Salinas CA | 159,134 | $92K | 13.6% | 4.7% | 39% | B |
| 155 | Federal Way WA | 99,729 | $87K | 13.0% | 5.4% | 10% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 280 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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 Sterling Heights, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Next door is work for 28% of Sterling Heights
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sterling Heights workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sterling Heights | – | B | B− | 25 min | $79,909 |
| Utica | under 3% | B+ | B+ | 24 min | $58,718 |
| Shelby Township | 3% | A− | B− | 25 min | $91,012 |
| Troy | 11% | A | B | 24 min | $120,045 |
| Clinton Township | 4% | B | B+ | 25 min | $74,244 |
| Warren | 10% | C+ | B+ | 25 min | $64,016 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Troy. Darker towns draw more of Sterling Heights’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 Sterling Heights: questions
What is the median household income in Sterling Heights?
$79,909 (±$3,056) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sterling Heights?
11.1%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sterling Heights?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sterling Heights work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Troy (11%, 6 mi), Warren (10%, 6 mi), Detroit (8%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Sterling Heights walkable?
Sterling Heights is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sterling Heights without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sterling Heights, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sterling Heights
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.