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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-CHATHAM-MI · Chatham, MI 123 pop · income 16th 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 Chatham
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Chatham on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Greenland · lowest
43,958
Greenland · lowest
43,958 median HH income
41.2% of the leader · rank #1
Chatham · this city
47,813
Chatham · this city
47,813 median HH income
44.8% of the leader · rank #2
Barnes City · near
47,813
Barnes City · near
47,813 median HH income
44.8% of the leader · rank #3
Oberlin · near
47,813
Oberlin · near
47,813 median HH income
44.8% of the leader · rank #4
Kingsville · near
47,813
Kingsville · near
47,813 median HH income
44.8% of the leader · rank #5
Cumberland · near
47,819
Cumberland · near
47,819 median HH income
44.8% of the leader · rank #6
Eagle Harbor · highest
106,625
Eagle Harbor · highest
106,625 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 Chatham 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: 123.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Chatham places in the 16th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
16th
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: Chatham, MI
123 people live in Chatham, Michigan - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Chatham households earn a median of $47,813 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in Chatham are valued around $154,200, and the median resident age is 65.3 years. 22.5% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 35.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 40.6°F with 37.0 inches of precipitation per year.
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. 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 Chatham'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 comparison shortlist to work and mobility to population change to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Chatham, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Chatham?
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 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Chatham?
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 Arcadia (123 residents, $83,333 income); Norwood (123 residents, $72,500 income); Crystal Mountain (120 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Ali Chuk, AZ (123 residents); Kingston, AR (123 residents); Mount Laguna, CA (123 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 Chatham?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.8%. 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -3 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.4% 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.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Chatham?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 40.6°F, with 37.0 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Michigan is 49.6 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
49.6
Annual precipitation
37.0 in
Mean temperature
40.6°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
C-
City profile score · Chatham, MI
52/100
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+
0.0%
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
22.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$47,813
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).
Chatham profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 42/100 (D) · 22.5%
Household income: 17/100 (F) · $47,813
How does Chatham compare to other US cities?
Chatham measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income16% 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 Chatham 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 Chatham near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Chatham ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Chatham only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#561 of 718
22nd percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#354 of 721
51st percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#661 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#306 of 727
58th 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
16th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Chatham's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$154,200Among 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
Chatham'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
#7,802 of 15,516
More affordable than 50% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,427 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.2×, Chatham sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,802 of 15,516 and #6,427 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
$47,813Chatham, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Chatham, 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 Chatham, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)22.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)35.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
123
Median Income
$47,813
Median Home Value
$154,200
Median Age
65.3
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
35.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
22.5%
Climate
Avg Temperature
40.6°F
Annual Precipitation
37.0"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Chatham's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
217 residents
2021
217 residents
2022
217 residents
2023
216 residents
2024
216 residents
2025
214 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.8%
Carpool
8.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
5.6%
Work from Home
0.0%
Other
8.3%
Based on 36 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 Chatham. 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 Chatham 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 Chatham sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Chatham 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.