Photo: F. D. Richards from Clinton, MI · CC BY-SA 2.0More people are out of work in Sturgis (8.4%) than in 90% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Sturgis itself; outside it, Sturgis Township draws the most (7%, 3 miles). Sturgis grades C− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Home is the office for 6% of workers (Michigan 14%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Sturgis and work: the main findings
Sturgis trades workers with the towns around it
Sturgis has about as many jobs (5,260) as working residents (4,914), but they are mostly different people: 3,649 residents leave for work each day while 3,995 people come in. Only 24% of the jobs in Sturgis are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Sturgis makes and builds things
45% of the jobs based in Sturgis are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Sturgis residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 46%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Sturgis are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Michigan. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Michigan worker. 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.
Income, poverty and work: Sturgis’ grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sturgis is better than 23% of U.S. towns, #593 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Sturgis’ grade up (ahead of 51% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
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, Sturgis could be anywhere from D to C+.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 3,649 residents head out to work, 1,265 work right here, and 3,995 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 (1.07 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.
Goods, not services: 45% of the jobs in Sturgis
5,260 jobs are based in Sturgis.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sturgis, 2011 → 2021: 6,581 → 5,260. 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 Sturgis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Sturgis: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sturgis workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,787 commuters (the 5% 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.
Where the trip to work from Sturgis ends
Where Sturgis clocks in
7% of workers
5% 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.
Where in the region Sturgis works
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.
The commute in Sturgis is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sturgis is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns, #328 of 701 in Michigan. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.7% 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 5,063 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). 13.4% of Sturgis households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Sturgis’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Sturgis ranks: 2,098th of 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Grosse Pointe Farms MI | 9,735 | $161K | 2.5% | 1.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,096 | Newell Township IL | 13,326 | $61K | 13.7% | 7.0% | 13% | C− |
| 2,097 | Angola IN | 9,366 | $65K | 17.9% | 6.3% | 37% | C− |
| 2,098 | Sturgis MI | 10,900 | $63K | 13.4% | 8.4% | 26% | C− |
| 2,099 | Herkimer NY | 9,432 | $56K | 21.7% | 4.9% | 21% | C− |
| 2,100 | St. Martin MS | 8,139 | $55K | 17.2% | 6.7% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Sturgis, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Around Sturgis: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sturgis workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sturgis | – | C− | C+ | 19 min | $62,710 |
| Sturgis Township | 7% | B | B− | 20 min | $69,958 |
| Fawn River Township | under 2% | C+ | C+ | 19 min | $79,167 |
| Burr Oak Township | under 2% | B+ | C+ | 22 min | $67,273 |
| Sherman Township | under 2% | B | C− | 21 min | $83,250 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Sturgis Township. Darker towns draw more of Sturgis’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 Sturgis: questions
What is the median household income in Sturgis?
$62,710 (±$7,019) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sturgis?
13.4%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sturgis?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sturgis work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sturgis Township (7%, 3 mi), Elkhart (5%, 29 mi), Middlebury (3%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Sturgis walkable?
Sturgis is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sturgis without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sturgis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sturgis
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.