Work & commute · White Lake

Work & commute in White Lake, MI

Most working residents leave White Lake for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Waterford (6%), Southfield (5%) and Detroit (5%). Half commute less than 16 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

608 of 13,915 working residents

Typical commute

16 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

32 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

13%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 13,307 White Lake residents head out of town to work, 608 work right here, and 3,637 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in White Lake.

13,307live here, work elsewhere

608live and work here

3,637work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where White Lake goes to work

Waterford5.8 mi away

6%805

Southfield17.5 mi away

5%676

Detroit27.7 mi away

5%675

Farmington Hills13.3 mi away

4%624

Troy18.7 mi away

4%623

White Lake (in town)right here

4%608

Commerce5.6 mi away

4%603

Auburn Hills13.1 mi away

4%511

Livonia19 mi away

3%487

Pontiac10.9 mi away

3%461

Everywhere elseother towns and states

56%7,842

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

How far

How far White Lake commutes

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

27%

47%

18%

27%Under 10 mi

47%10–24 mi

18%25–50 mi

7%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

White Lake is a commuter town

0.31jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.31 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in White Lake are

4,245 jobs are based in White Lake. Here is what they are, next to the jobs White Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in White Lake

4,245 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)10%

Trade, transport & utilities44%

Services (health, schools, offices…)46%

$1,250 a month or less25%

$1,251–$3,333 a month37%

Over $3,333 a month39%

Jobs White Lake residents hold

13,915 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)17%

Trade, transport & utilities22%

Services (health, schools, offices…)61%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month64%

+31%

Jobs based in White Lake, 2011 → 2021: 3,248 → 4,245. 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.