Detroit

City Commute Profile

Detroit, MI

Where Detroit’s 182,811 resident workers go each day — 30.5% work within the area; the top destination beyond it is Southfield.

MichiganLODES 2021 data
Based on 2021 Census LODES data — the most recent available for Michigan.
58
Commute Score

58 / 100

How short the typical commute is here, on an absolute 0–100 scale (higher is shorter). How it’s calculated.

Detroit at a glance
Employed Residents
182,811
Fewer than the city’s total population
Median home–work distance
11.7mi
Straight-line, not road distance
Work Locally
30.5%
Share working within the area
Work from home
12.0%
Residents who work from home (ACS)
Top destination outside city
Southfield
Excludes local — most work in-city

These figures are for Detroit proper — the Census place within its city limits — not the surrounding metro area. Metro-wide totals you’ll see elsewhere are larger because they bundle in neighboring cities and suburbs.

How Detroit commutes

Every dot is a worker moving between home and job. Trace where the area pulls people in from — and where its residents head each day.

Detroit

182,811 commutes, one dot at a time

Detroit

Where 182,811 workers commute

Each dot ≈ 75 workers

Where residents work

Top destinations for people who live in Detroit, by worker count.

1Detroit0.0 mi55,732
2Southfield9.7 mi10,811
3Warren8.0 mi10,354
4Dearborn7.8 mi9,057
5Troy13.5 mi6,719
6Livonia13.7 mi6,258
7Lansing77.6 mi5,641
8Farmington Hills15.4 mi3,936

Who commutes in

Top origin places for workers who travel into Detroit.

1Detroit0.0 mi55,732
2Warren8.0 mi7,119
3Southfield9.7 mi6,031
4Dearborn7.8 mi5,745
5Sterling Heights14.0 mi4,652
6Farmington Hills15.4 mi4,540
7St. Clair Shores12.7 mi4,385
8Royal Oak8.5 mi4,080

Top industries

The sectors that employ Detroit’s workforce. Each bar is scaled to that sector’s share of all local jobs — the top sectors shown don’t add up to 100%.

Bar length = each sector’s share of all local jobs (0–100%)
HCHealth Care and Social Assistance22.6%
MFManufacturing10.4%
FIFinance and Insurance9.1%
EDEducational Services8.1%
PTProfessional, Scientific, and Technical Services6.8%
AFAccommodation and Food Services6.3%
PAPublic Administration5.8%
RTRetail Trade5.7%
ADAdministrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services4.8%

Detroit city profile

Who lives in Detroit — population, housing, and income, from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Population
638,530
Median age
35.2yrs
Median household income
$39,938
Median home value
$83,900
Median gross rent
$1,074/mo
Bachelor’s degree or higher
18.1%
Poverty rate
32.7%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 5-Year Estimates. Values shown as “—” are suppressed or unavailable for this place.

Connectivity

Internet options for Detroit

The biggest home-internet providers in the area — tap any to compare local plans.

6 providers · 2 with fiber
Speed availabilityshare of homes a plan reaches
1 Gbps~all homes
2 Gbps96%
5 Gbps30%
8 Gbps
See all internet providers in Detroit

FindBetterInternet is a CensusFlow partner site — we link out so you can compare local plans, and CensusFlow’s Census data stays independent. Provider data is from the FCC National Broadband Map (satellite + fixed wireless excluded).