Work & commute · St. Joseph

Work & commute in St. Joseph, MI

Most working residents leave St. Joseph for work: only 16% work in town. The top destinations are Benton (20%), St. Joseph (7%) and Lincoln (5%). Half commute less than 5 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

16%

513 of 3,220 working residents

Typical commute

5 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

20 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

16%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 2,707 St. Joseph residents head out of town to work, 513 work right here, and 5,577 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in St. Joseph.

2,707live here, work elsewhere

513live and work here

5,577work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where St. Joseph goes to work

Benton4.9 mi away

20%638

St. Joseph (in town)right here

16%513

St. Joseph2.2 mi away

7%240

Lincoln5.9 mi away

5%145

Grand Rapids73.1 mi away

4%138

Benton Harbor2.3 mi away

4%135

Oronoko11.5 mi away

2%75

Royalton6.4 mi away

2%57

Lake12.7 mi away

1%45

South Bend, IN31.3 mi away

1%41

Everywhere elseother towns and states

37%1,193

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.

56%

12%

10%

22%

56%Under 10 mi

12%10–24 mi

10%25–50 mi

22%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

St. Joseph is a job hub

1.89jobs per working resident

A job hub

1.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in St. Joseph are

6,090 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

6,090 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)25%

Trade, transport & utilities6%

Services (health, schools, offices…)69%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month58%

Jobs St. Joseph residents hold

3,220 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)28%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month25%

Over $3,333 a month58%

−22%

Jobs based in St. Joseph, 2011 → 2021: 7,817 → 6,090. 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.