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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-BYRON-CENTER-MI · Byron Center, MI 6,817 pop · income 84th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Byron Center
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Byron Center on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Marianna · lowest
36,346
Marianna · lowest
36,346 median HH income
23.2% of the leader · rank #1
Cold Bay · near
112,273
Cold Bay · near
112,273 median HH income
71.5% of the leader · rank #2
Queen Anne · near
112,292
Queen Anne · near
112,292 median HH income
71.5% of the leader · rank #3
Byron Center · this city
112,324
Byron Center · this city
112,324 median HH income
71.5% of the leader · rank #4
Wanaque · near
112,326
Wanaque · near
112,326 median HH income
71.5% of the leader · rank #5
Holladay · near
112,369
Holladay · near
112,369 median HH income
71.6% of the leader · rank #6
Allendale · highest
156,992
Allendale · highest
156,992 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Byron Center on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 6,817.
Byron Center ranks in the 84th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
84th
percentile, household income
73rd
percentile, home value
32nd
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Byron Center, MI
Michigan's Byron Center is a small town, with 6,817 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Byron Center households earn a median of $112,324 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 1.8%. Byron Center's housing stock carries a median value of $359,400, and the median resident age is 41.6 years. 46.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 59.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 8 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Living costs in Michigan run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Michigan at 96.2 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,113 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Michigan's average monthly utility costs around $238 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 49.6 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Byron Center's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from schools and households to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Byron Center, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Byron Center?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 8 public schools within the city match. 46.3% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
What does the journey to work look like in Byron Center?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 84.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Which cities make useful reference points for Byron Center?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Within Michigan, the closest population matches are Marshall (6,797 residents, $75,220 income); Bridgeport (6,841 residents, $47,325 income); South Monroe (6,771 residents, $59,674 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Valley Park, MO (6,817 residents); Marianna, FL (6,815 residents); St. Augustine Beach, FL (6,819 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
How far does income reach against housing in Byron Center?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
B+
City profile score · Byron Center, MI
77/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Poverty rate A
1.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income A-
$112,324
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A-
46.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living C
96.2 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Byron Center profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 87/100 (A) · 1.8%
Household income: 82/100 (A-) · $112,324
Bachelor's+ share: 81/100 (A-) · 46.3%
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
How does Byron Center compare to other US cities?
Byron Center measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income84% higher than other cities
Home value73% pricier than other cities
Median rent32% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Byron Center against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Michigan only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Michigan-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Byron Center near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Byron Center ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Byron Center only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#41 of 718
94th percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#49 of 721
93rd percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#621 of 727
14th percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#84 of 727
88th percentile in Michigan
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Michigan only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
84th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Byron Center's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$359,40027th percentilemore affordable than 27% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Byron Center's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,698 of 15,516
More affordable than 50% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,360 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.2×, Byron Center sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,698 of 15,516 and #6,360 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$112,324Byron Center, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Byron Center, MI median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Byron Center, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)46.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,817
Median Income
$112,324
Median Home Value
$359,400
Median Age
41.6
Poverty Rate
1.8%
Labor force participation
59.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
46.3%
Schools
Total Schools
8
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
84.5%
Carpool
3.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.9%
Work from Home
11.4%
Based on 3,078 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Michigan statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $238
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Michigan at $238 (electricity about $105 , water and sewer about $48 ).
These are Michigan statewide averages, not a meter reading for Byron Center. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Michigan's BEA cost-of-living index is 96.2 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Byron Center is $1,113/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Michigan statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 49.6 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Michigan statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Byron Center sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Byron Center compares to similar-size Michigan cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.