Sylvan Lake’s household incomes are higher than in 81% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Sylvan Lake A; getting around on foot earns it B+. Poverty touches 5.4% of residents, where Michigan as a whole has 13.2%. Only 3% work in Sylvan Lake itself; outside it, Troy draws the most (8%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Sylvan Lake, in brief
Stores, warehouses and trucking
49% of the jobs in Sylvan Lake are in trade, transport and utilities, against 21% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Sylvan Lake’s workforce skews older
36% of Sylvan Lake’s working residents are 55 or older. 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; with 810 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Sylvan Lake’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sylvan Lake is better than 92% of U.S. towns. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 92% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (2.9%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
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, Sylvan Lake could be anywhere from B to A+.
The kinds of work in Sylvan Lake
632 jobs are based in Sylvan Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sylvan Lake, 2011 → 2021: 658 → 632. 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 Sylvan Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Sylvan Lake, and who commutes in
On a workday 789 residents head out to work, 21 work right here, and 611 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Sylvan Lake on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.78 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 Sylvan Lake goes to work
Where Sylvan Lake clocks in
8% 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.
About 25 minutes each way, about the MI average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sylvan Lake workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 836 commuters (the 17% 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 it is to work from Sylvan Lake
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.
In Sylvan Lake, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sylvan Lake is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.7% 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 1,011 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). 1.7% of Sylvan Lake households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sylvan Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Sylvan Lake is 249th of 5,760 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 206 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 247 | Jefferson Township SD | 1,207 | $196K | 2.0% | 3.6% | 1% | A |
| 248 | Mapleton Township SD | 2,063 | $111K | 2.4% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| 249 | Sylvan Lake MI | 1,685 | $106K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| 250 | Newfield NJ | 1,823 | $104K | 4.8% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| 251 | Baldwin Township PA | 1,896 | $90K | 2.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 413 | Frankenmuth Township MI | 1,872 | $102K | 5.5% | 1.5% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Sylvan Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Bordering towns draw 15% of Sylvan Lake’s workers
The biggest share goes to Waterford Township (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sylvan Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sylvan Lake | – | A | B+ | 25 min | $106,429 |
| West Bloomfield Township | 5% | A− | C+ | 28 min | $125,453 |
| Pontiac | 4% | C− | B | 21 min | $44,329 |
| Waterford Township | 6% | B | C+ | 27 min | $77,101 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sylvan Lake’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 Sylvan Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Sylvan Lake?
$106,429 (±$35,671) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sylvan Lake?
5.4%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sylvan Lake?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sylvan Lake work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Troy (8%, 10 mi), Detroit (8%, 20 mi), Waterford Township (6%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Sylvan Lake walkable?
Sylvan Lake is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sylvan Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sylvan Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sylvan Lake
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.