Work & commute · Sterling Heights

Work & commute in Sterling Heights, MI

Most working residents leave Sterling Heights for work: only 12% work in town. The top destinations are Troy (11%), Warren (10%) and Detroit (8%). Half commute less than 9 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

12%

6,258 of 52,607 working residents

Typical commute

9 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

25 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 46,349 Sterling Heights residents head out of town to work, 6,258 work right here, and 46,304 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Sterling Heights.

46,349live here, work elsewhere

6,258live and work here

46,304work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Sterling Heights goes to work

Sterling Heights (in town)right here

12%6,258

Troy5.9 mi away

11%5,575

Warren6.1 mi away

10%5,032

Detroit14.2 mi away

8%4,456

Clinton5.8 mi away

4%2,155

Auburn Hills12.6 mi away

4%2,041

Southfield13.8 mi away

4%1,853

Shelby6.4 mi away

3%1,773

Madison Heights6.3 mi away

2%1,308

Royal Oak8.1 mi away

2%1,256

Everywhere elseother towns and states

40%20,900

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

How far

How far Sterling Heights commutes

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

54%

33%

54%Under 10 mi

33%10–24 mi

6%25–50 mi

7%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Sterling Heights is balanced between jobs and homes

1.00jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.00 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Sterling Heights are

52,562 jobs are based in Sterling Heights. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sterling Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Sterling Heights

52,562 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)35%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)47%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month61%

Jobs Sterling Heights residents hold

52,607 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)18%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)61%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month28%

Over $3,333 a month55%

+14%

Jobs based in Sterling Heights, 2011 → 2021: 46,191 → 52,562. 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.