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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-CENTRAL-LAKE-MI · Central Lake, MI 976 pop · income 34th 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 Central Lake
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Central Lake on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lewiston · lowest
41,266
Lewiston · lowest
41,266 median HH income
28.4% of the leader · rank #1
Windsor · near
58,895
Windsor · near
58,895 median HH income
40.5% of the leader · rank #2
Folcroft · near
58,899
Folcroft · near
58,899 median HH income
40.5% of the leader · rank #3
Central Lake · this city
58,900
Central Lake · this city
58,900 median HH income
40.5% of the leader · rank #4
Stuttgart · near
58,906
Stuttgart · near
58,906 median HH income
40.5% of the leader · rank #5
Richmond · near
58,906
Richmond · near
58,906 median HH income
40.5% of the leader · rank #6
Terramuggus · highest
145,391
Terramuggus · highest
145,391 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 Central Lake 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: 976.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Central Lake places in the 34th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
34th
percentile, household income
28th
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: Central Lake, MI
Michigan's Central Lake is a small town, with 976 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Central Lake brings in $58,900 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 4.9%. Central Lake's housing stock carries a median value of $152,800, and the median resident age is 31.2 years. 23.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 61.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,113 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Michigan run around $238, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Central Lake report an average commute of 21.8 minutes, with 74.8% driving alone and 5.6% working from home. 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 Central Lake'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 housing and income to work and mobility to schools and households to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Central Lake, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for 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.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Central Lake?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
What does the journey to work look like in Central Lake?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 21.8 minutes.
What does the education layer cover for Central Lake?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 23.7% 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.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Central Lake?
Within Michigan, the closest population matches are Hubbard Lake (976 residents, $67,841 income); Lewiston (980 residents, $41,266 income); Mayville (971 residents, $50,735 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Baileyton, AL (976 residents); Terramuggus, CT (976 residents); Atwood, IL (976 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.
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.
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 Central Lake growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +47 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.0% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+5.0%
2025 estimate
987
2020 estimate
940
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 4.9% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.2 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
C-
City profile score · Central Lake, MI
50/100
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 B-
4.9%
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 D
23.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$58,900
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Central Lake profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 66/100 (B-) · 4.9%
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 45/100 (D) · 23.7%
Household income: 33/100 (F) · $58,900
How does Central Lake compare to other US cities?
Central Lake measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income34% higher than other cities
Home value28% 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 Central Lake 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 Central Lake near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Central Lake ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Central Lake only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#380 of 718
47th percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#360 of 721
50th percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#479 of 727
34th percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#287 of 727
60th 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
34th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Central Lake's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$152,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 72% 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
Central Lake's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,474 of 15,516
More affordable than 71% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,986 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.6×, Central Lake sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,474 of 15,516 and #3,986 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
$58,900Central Lake, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Central Lake, 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 Central Lake, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)23.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
976
Median Income
$58,900
Median Home Value
$152,800
Median Age
31.2
Poverty Rate
4.9%
Labor force participation
61.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
23.7%
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
Central Lake's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
940 residents
2021
956 residents
2022
971 residents
2023
976 residents
2024
977 residents
2025
987 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
21.8 minutes
Drive Alone
74.8%
Carpool
16.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.6%
Work from Home
5.6%
Based on 412 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 Central Lake. 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 Central Lake 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 Central Lake sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Central Lake 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.