James McColl House · Photo: Notorious4life · CC BY-SA 3.0Yale’s household incomes are lower than in 84% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 18.0% of residents, next to 13.2% for Michigan as a whole. Jobs and income earn Yale D; getting around on foot earns it B+. Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers, where Michigan as a whole has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Yale, in brief
Many jobs in Yale pay little
37% of the jobs based in Yale pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 35% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Yale workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 35 minutes each way, against 24 across Michigan. Over a year that’s about 268 hours of commuting, 84 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Yale
52% of Yale residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 27% of the jobs based in Yale pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 91% leave town for their job. 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 745 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Yale
On income, poverty and job access, Yale is better than 9% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Yale’s grade.
Unemployment (16.1%) is left out: Yale’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
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 and poverty, Yale could be anywhere from D− to C−.
What work there is in Yale: 767 jobs
767 jobs are based in Yale.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Yale, 2011 → 2021: 526 → 767. 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 Yale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Yale: about 35 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Yale workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 765 commuters (the 3% 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 a workday changes Yale
On a workday 681 residents head out to work, 64 work right here, and 703 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 (1.03 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.
6% of working residents work in Port Huron
Where Yale clocks in
Lines 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.
How many miles Yale commutes
About 24% 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.
For most of Yale, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Yale is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Yale near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 787 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). 9.0% of Yale households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Yale’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500, Yale ranks 4,853rd of 5,656 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 212 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 255 | Sylvan Lake MI | 1,685 | $106K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,851 | Midland City AL | 2,298 | $28K | 30.6% | 0.9% | 3% | D |
| 4,852 | Vevay IN | 1,760 | $46K | 13.6% | 9.2% | 11% | D |
| 4,853 | Yale MI | 1,873 | $53K | 18.0% | 16.1% | 9% | D |
| 4,854 | Bourbon MO | 1,544 | $54K | 20.6% | 4.7% | 7% | D |
| 4,855 | Brocton NY | 1,310 | $59K | 24.6% | 5.8% | 6% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | 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 Yale, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
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 Yale: questions
What is the median household income in Yale?
$53,236 (±$5,181) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Yale?
18.0%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Yale?
35 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Yale work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Port Huron (6%, 21 mi), Detroit (5%, 54 mi), Shelby Township (3%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Yale walkable?
Yale is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Yale without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Yale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Yale
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.