More than 75 percent of U-M faculty and staff from all three campuses and U-M Hospitals and Health Centers live in nearby Washtenaw and Wayne counties, 62.2 percent and 13.4 percent, respectively, according to most recent figures.
But among the university’s 43,851 employees there also are 379 Ohio residents, and even 447 who live outside Michigan and Ohio.
Counties that U-M faculty and staff call home, after Washtenaw and Wayne, are Oakland, 5.8 percent; Livingston, 5.2 percent; Genesee 2.9 percent, Jackson 2.4, Lenawee 2.1, Monroe 1.7, Ingham 0.7 and Macomb 0.5 percent.
Cities most favored by staff and faculty are Ann Arbor, 41.6 percent; Ypsilanti, 9.9 percent; Canton, 2.9 percent; Saline, 2.4 percent; and Dexter, 2.2 percent.
This most recent summary of where faculty and staff reside was compiled by Thomas Palmer, senior business analyst in University Human Resources, in conjunction with the preparation of the annual Human Capital Report presented to the Board of Regents. The Human Capital Report is available online at hr.umich.edu/humancapital.
Information on where faculty and staff reside is accessed by departments focused on planning. They include Parking and Transportation Services staff studying future transportation needs and Community Relations staff evaluating the economic benefit U-M employees bring to local communities.
Jim Kosteva, director of community relations, says the data broken down by ZIP code is useful in assessing how many employees might be interested in an express bus service to and from a particular area, and in evaluating other potential transportation services.
“We do periodically work with Parking and Transportation looking at bus routes,” Palmer says. “We’re always trying to get a feel of where people live.”
Kosteva says the data also is useful in assessing the economic impact of the university on area communities, and as a tool to demonstrate that impact on local governments and others.
“We have roughly 9,000 more employees total than we had 10 years ago here in Southeast Michigan. In the face of all the economy-related news this region has seen the last couple of years, the University of Michigan is one of the premiere drivers of successful employment growth, based on its research performance and growth in the Medical Center,” Kosteva says.
Grant Winston, PTS associate director, says PTS periodically uses the information to consider alternative transportation options for U-M faculty and staff.
“We used it to send targeted email to those who were potential riders on the Washtenaw-Livingston Line or WALLY — the north-south commuter rail project in its early planning stages — to inquire about the interest level,” he says.
The data also was used when PTS and the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority discussed commuter express bus service to outlying regions.
“From that came the ExpressRide bus services from Chelsea and Canton. The data showed significant concentrations of U-M affiliates in those two catchment areas. If additional future bus or other transportation options, including vanpooling, are discussed, we will again turn to human capital data to help shape those options,” Winston says. Learn more about transportation options.
U-M employees who live outside Michigan and Ohio include faculty on sabbatical, faculty or staff who work in another state in research and or development, and visiting faculty and graduate students whose primary address is not their local address, Palmer says.
