Work & commute · Sylvan Lake

Work & commute in Sylvan Lake, MI

Most working residents leave Sylvan Lake for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Troy (8%), Detroit (8%) and Waterford (6%). Half commute less than 10 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

21 of 810 working residents

Typical commute

10 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

25 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

17%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 789 Sylvan Lake residents head out of town to work, 21 work right here, and 611 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Sylvan Lake.

789live here, work elsewhere

21live and work here

611work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Sylvan Lake goes to work

Troy9.8 mi away

8%68

Detroit20 mi away

8%64

Waterford4.2 mi away

6%50

Farmington Hills9.3 mi away

5%42

Bloomfield4 mi away

5%38

West Bloomfield4.4 mi away

5%37

Auburn Hills6.1 mi away

4%36

Pontiac3.2 mi away

4%32

Livonia15.3 mi away

3%26

Birmingham7.8 mi away

3%24

Everywhere elseother towns and states

49%393

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

How far

How far Sylvan Lake commutes

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

48%

43%

48%Under 10 mi

43%10–24 mi

5%25–50 mi

5%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Sylvan Lake is balanced between jobs and homes

0.78jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.78 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Sylvan Lake are

632 jobs are based in Sylvan Lake. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sylvan Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Sylvan Lake

632 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)11%

Trade, transport & utilities49%

Services (health, schools, offices…)40%

$1,250 a month or less25%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month51%

Jobs Sylvan Lake residents hold

810 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)11%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)68%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month65%

−4%

Jobs based in Sylvan Lake, 2011 → 2021: 658 → 632. 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.