Work & commute · St. Louis

Work & commute in St. Louis, MI

Most working residents leave St. Louis for work: only 11% work in town. The top destinations are Alma (11%), Mount Pleasant (4%) and Ithaca (4%). Half commute less than 28 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

11%

167 of 1,572 working residents

Typical commute

28 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

16 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 1,405 St. Louis residents head out of town to work, 167 work right here, and 1,733 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in St. Louis.

1,405live here, work elsewhere

167live and work here

1,733work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where St. Louis goes to work

Alma2.7 mi away

11%180

St. Louis (in town)right here

11%167

Mount Pleasant15.4 mi away

4%70

Ithaca8.2 mi away

4%62

Pine River3.3 mi away

3%52

Midland24.2 mi away

3%40

Lansing48 mi away

2%38

Chippewa12.8 mi away

2%28

Union15.5 mi away

2%27

Grand Rapids61 mi away

2%26

Everywhere elseother towns and states

56%882

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

How far

How far St. Louis commutes

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

33%

14%

18%

34%

33%Under 10 mi

14%10–24 mi

18%25–50 mi

34%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

St. Louis is balanced between jobs and homes

1.21jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.21 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in St. Louis are

1,900 jobs are based in St. Louis. Here is what they are, next to the jobs St. Louis’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in St. Louis

1,900 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)20%

Trade, transport & utilities12%

Services (health, schools, offices…)67%

$1,250 a month or less9%

$1,251–$3,333 a month25%

Over $3,333 a month67%

Jobs St. Louis residents hold

1,572 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)18%

Trade, transport & utilities24%

Services (health, schools, offices…)58%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month39%

Over $3,333 a month44%

+49%

Jobs based in St. Louis, 2011 → 2021: 1,277 → 1,900. 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.