Photo: Traveler100 · CC BY-SA 3.0Where Walled Lake earns its living
Only 3% work in Walled Lake itself; outside it, Farmington Hills draws the most (8%, 6 miles). Jobs and income earn Walled Lake B; getting around on foot earns it B−. Commuters spend 24 minutes getting to work on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Walled Lake
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Walled Lake is better than 64% of U.S. towns, #285 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Walled Lake’s grade up (ahead of 91% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($72,055, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
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 rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Walled Lake could be anywhere from C+ to A.
The daily flow of workers through Walled Lake
On a workday 3,191 residents head out to work, 110 work right here, and 2,016 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,100 people are in Walled Lake on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.64 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
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 Walled Lake’s working residents head each day
Where Walled Lake clocks in
8% of workers
7% 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.
Inside Walled Lake’s 2,126 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Walled Lake, 2011 → 2021: 1,984 → 2,126. 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 Walled Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes each way for Walled Lake’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Walled Lake workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,710 commuters (the 12% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Walled 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.
Few in Walled Lake walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Walled Lake is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns, #259 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 4,232 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). 7.2% of Walled Lake households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Walled Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Walled Lake next to U.S. towns of 5,100 to 9,900: 1,382nd of 3,154 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Grosse Pointe Farms MI | 9,735 | $161K | 2.5% | 1.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 47 | Northville MI | 6,013 | $146K | 2.8% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,380 | Boyes Hot Springs CA | 7,247 | $101K | 11.6% | 3.4% | 4% | B |
| 1,381 | Incline Village NV | 9,272 | $167K | 6.0% | 3.9% | 41% | B |
| 1,382 | Walled Lake MI | 7,320 | $72K | 10.5% | 4.0% | 3% | B |
| 1,383 | Dormont PA | 7,816 | $81K | 7.9% | 6.0% | 3% | B |
| 1,384 | Taylor Township IN | 9,436 | $72K | 10.6% | 2.2% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,154 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Walled Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Next door is work for 11% of Walled Lake
The biggest share goes to Novi (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Walled Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walled Lake | – | B | B− | 24 min | $72,055 |
| Commerce Township | 4% | A | C+ | 28 min | $113,148 |
| Wolverine Lake | under 3% | A | B− | 24 min | $92,247 |
| Novi | 7% | A | B− | 26 min | $110,723 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Walled 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 Walled Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Walled Lake?
$72,055 (±$10,108) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Walled Lake?
10.5%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Walled Lake?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Walled Lake work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Farmington Hills (8%, 6 mi), Novi (7%, 4 mi), Wixom (6%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Walled Lake walkable?
Walled Lake is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Walled Lake without a car?
0% 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 Walled Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Walled 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.