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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-CENTER-LINE-MI · Center Line, MI 8,448 pop · income 24th 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 Center Line
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Center Line on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Houghton · lowest
35,417
Houghton · lowest
35,417 median HH income
19.5% of the leader · rank #1
Center Line · this city
52,857
Center Line · this city
52,857 median HH income
29.1% of the leader · rank #2
Middletown · near
52,857
Middletown · near
52,857 median HH income
29.1% of the leader · rank #3
Crystal Beach · near
52,857
Crystal Beach · near
52,857 median HH income
29.1% of the leader · rank #4
Stringtown · near
52,857
Stringtown · near
52,857 median HH income
29.1% of the leader · rank #5
Penitas · near
52,857
Penitas · near
52,857 median HH income
29.1% of the leader · rank #6
Hastings-on-H… · highest
181,528
Hastings-on-H… · highest
181,528 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Center Line on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 8,448.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Center Line - the verdict
Center Line ranks in the 24th percentile for household income and the 34th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
24th
percentile, household income
25th
percentile, home value
32nd
percentile, median rent
34th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Center Line, MI
8,448 people live in Center Line, Michigan - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Center Line brings in $52,857 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 5.9%. Typical homes in Center Line are valued around $145,300, and the median resident age is 39.9 years. About 18.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 62.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits). Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1916.4 incidents per 100,000 residents, near the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Michigan run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Michigan scores 96.2 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. 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). Natural-hazard exposure scores 49.6 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Center Line'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 comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households to population change to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Center Line, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Center Line?
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Michigan, the closest population matches are Temperance (8,495 residents, $76,069 income); Beecher (8,507 residents, $35,582 income); Menominee (8,370 residents, $49,646 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hastings-on-Hudson, NY (8,449 residents); Farmingdale, NY (8,450 residents); Harrison, TN (8,446 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Center Line?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.8%. 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Center Line?
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 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the education layer cover for Center Line?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 18.7% 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.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Population change
Is Center Line growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -29 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
2020 estimate
8,532
2025 estimate
8,503
Period change
-0.3%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Center Line?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1916.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 16% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
1916.4
Violent rate
421.8
Property rate
1494.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
F
City profile score · Center Line, MI
38/100
5 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 C+
5.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
18.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$52,857
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
422 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Center Line profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 60/100 (C+) · 5.9%
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 31/100 (F) · 18.7%
Household income: 24/100 (F) · $52,857
Violent crime: 21/100 (F) · 422 /100k
Where Center Line sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Center Line's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Center Line highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Center Line, MI (this city): home $145,300, crime 1,916/100k
Lake Geneva, WI : home $323,000, crime 1,736/100k
Clinton, OK : home $112,500, crime 1,941/100k
Barre, VT : home $200,100, crime 3,577/100k
Menominee, MI : home $97,800, crime 1,391/100k
Houghton, MI : home $233,700, crime 794/100k
Flushing, MI : home $189,500, crime 635/100k
Tecumseh, MI : home $193,600, crime 455/100k
How does Center Line compare to other US cities?
Center Line measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income24% higher than other cities
Home value25% pricier than other cities
Median rent32% pricier than other cities
Safety34% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Michigan, Center Line ranks #181 of 254 Michigan cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Center Line 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 Center Line near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Center Line ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Center Line only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#479 of 718
33rd percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#374 of 721
48th percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#445 of 727
38th percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#379 of 727
48th 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
24th percentile nationally for median household income · 34th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Center Line's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Center Line's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Center Line's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$145,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 75% 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
Center Line's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,308 of 15,516
More affordable than 66% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,629 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.7×, Center Line sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,308 of 15,516 and #4,629 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$52,857Center Line, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Center Line, 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 Center Line, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)18.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
8,448
Median Income
$52,857
Median Home Value
$145,300
Median Age
39.9
Poverty Rate
5.9%
Labor force participation
62.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
18.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1916.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
421.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1494.5
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Center Line's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
8,532 residents
2021
8,459 residents
2022
8,389 residents
2023
8,369 residents
2024
8,501 residents
2025
8,503 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.8%
Carpool
15.3%
Public Transit
0.3%
Walk
0.9%
Work from Home
5.1%
Other
3.6%
Based on 4,037 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 Center Line. 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 Center Line 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 Center Line sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Center Line 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, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.