Work & commute · St. Joseph

Work & commute in St. Joseph, MI

Most working residents leave St. Joseph for work: only 7% work in town. The top destinations are Benton (17%), St. Joseph (15%) and Lincoln (5%). Half commute less than 6 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

300 of 4,112 working residents

Typical commute

6 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

19 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

14%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 3,812 St. Joseph residents head out of town to work, 300 work right here, and 3,161 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in St. Joseph.

3,812live here, work elsewhere

300live and work here

3,161work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where St. Joseph goes to work

Benton5.3 mi away

17%719

St. Joseph2.2 mi away

15%616

St. Joseph (in town)right here

7%300

Lincoln3.9 mi away

5%192

Grand Rapids74.6 mi away

4%175

Benton Harbor3.5 mi away

4%164

Lake10.8 mi away

3%127

Royalton4.4 mi away

2%98

Oronoko9.3 mi away

2%83

South Bend, IN29.2 mi away

1%51

Everywhere elseother towns and states

39%1,587

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far St. Joseph commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

57%

11%

23%

57%Under 10 mi

11%10–24 mi

9%25–50 mi

23%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

St. Joseph is balanced between jobs and homes

0.84jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.84 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in St. Joseph are

3,461 jobs are based in St. Joseph. Here is what they are, next to the jobs St. Joseph’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in St. Joseph

3,461 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)10%

Trade, transport & utilities14%

Services (health, schools, offices…)77%

$1,250 a month or less30%

$1,251–$3,333 a month38%

Over $3,333 a month32%

Jobs St. Joseph residents hold

4,112 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)27%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)54%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month25%

Over $3,333 a month60%

−21%

Jobs based in St. Joseph, 2011 → 2021: 4,384 → 3,461. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2021. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2021, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.