Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Detroit has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Only 4% stay in Detroit for work; outside it, Paris is the main destination (30%, 16 miles). There are 53 jobs in Detroit for 339 working residents. Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers, where Texas as a whole has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Detroit: the figures worth knowing
Detroit is a place people come home to
There are 53 jobs based in Detroit, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Detroit has about 430 people in it, 40% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
30% of Detroit works in Paris
102 working residents, 30%, have their main job in Paris, 16 miles away. That’s 8 times as many as work in Detroit itself. The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 339 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Detroit quiets down on a workday
On a workday 325 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 39 people come in from elsewhere.
About 430 people are in Detroit on a workday afternoon, 40% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where people from Detroit work
Where Detroit clocks in
9% of workers
4% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Detroit
About 34% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Jobs in Detroit: what the 53 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Detroit, 2014 → 2024: 25 → 53. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Detroit’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Detroit spends getting to work: about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Detroit workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 243 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Texas: 83% 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.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Detroit: questions
What is the median household income in Detroit?
$47,500 (±$15,936) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Detroit?
22.5%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Detroit?
32 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Detroit work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Paris (30%, 16 mi), Clarksville (9%, 13 mi), Fort Worth (4%, 135 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Detroit without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Detroit, from the people who make the trip.
More of Detroit
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.