Gilbert, Horace/Morgan and Enos Miller House · Photo: kennethaw88 · CC BY 4.0Unemployment in Swartz Creek (0.6%) is lower than in 97% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Swartz Creek is better than 72% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (C). Only 4% work in Swartz Creek; the top destination outside it is Flint (11%, 8 miles). Working residents average 28 minutes each way; Michigan averages 24, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Swartz Creek: the figures worth knowing
Swartz Creek’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Unemployment holds Swartz Creek’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($71,571, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on 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 three years behind.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Swartz Creek could be anywhere from B− to A.
What Swartz Creek’s employers do
1,815 jobs are based in Swartz Creek.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Swartz Creek, 2011 → 2021: 1,423 → 1,815. 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 Swartz Creek’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Swartz Creek on a workday
On a workday 2,198 residents head out to work, 89 work right here, and 1,726 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 (0.79 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 Swartz Creek ends
Where Swartz Creek clocks in
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.
Each way, about 28 minutes from Swartz Creek
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Swartz Creek workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,172 commuters (the 15% 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.
How far Swartz Creek’s workers travel
About 16% 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.
Driving is how Swartz Creek gets around
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% 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 2,558 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). <1% 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 40% 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). 3.8% of Swartz Creek households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Swartz Creek’s commuters take a bus or train.
Swartz Creek next to U.S. towns of 4,100 to 7,900: 1,061st 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,059 | Greenfield Township OH | 5,954 | $86K | 5.8% | 4.3% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,060 | Otis Orchards-East Farms WA | 5,454 | $98K | 5.6% | 4.1% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,061 | Swartz Creek MI | 5,827 | $72K | 10.9% | 0.6% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,062 | Archbald PA | 7,598 | $72K | 8.2% | 1.4% | 13% | B+ |
| 1,063 | Berryville VA | 4,828 | $103K | 10.6% | 1.8% | 9% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,432 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 3% | 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 Swartz Creek, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Work next door: 10% of Swartz Creek’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Swartz Creek workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swartz Creek | – | B+ | C | 28 min | $71,571 |
| Flint Township | 10% | C | B | 22 min | $61,563 |
| Clayton Township | under 2% | B | D | 31 min | $77,554 |
| Gaines Township | under 2% | B | D | 32 min | $84,363 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Flint Township. Darker towns draw more of Swartz Creek’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 Swartz Creek: questions
What is the median household income in Swartz Creek?
$71,571 (±$14,631) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Swartz Creek?
10.9%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Swartz Creek?
28 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Swartz Creek work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Flint (11%, 8 mi), Flint Township (10%, 4 mi), Grand Blanc Township (5%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Swartz Creek walkable?
Swartz Creek is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Swartz Creek without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Swartz Creek, from the people who make the trip.
More of Swartz Creek
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.