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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-CHESANING-MI · Chesaning, MI 2,411 pop · income 31st 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 Chesaning
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Chesaning on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Christopher · lowest
42,244
Christopher · lowest
42,244 median HH income
35.3% of the leader · rank #1
Wahpeton · near
57,417
Wahpeton · near
57,417 median HH income
48.0% of the leader · rank #2
Brook · near
57,422
Brook · near
57,422 median HH income
48.0% of the leader · rank #3
Argyle · near
57,424
Argyle · near
57,424 median HH income
48.0% of the leader · rank #4
Chesaning · this city
57,426
Chesaning · this city
57,426 median HH income
48.0% of the leader · rank #5
Poteet · near
57,434
Poteet · near
57,434 median HH income
48.0% of the leader · rank #6
Elysburg · highest
119,646
Elysburg · highest
119,646 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 Chesaning 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: 2,411.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Chesaning places in the 31st percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
31st
percentile, household income
19th
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: Chesaning, MI
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 2,411 residents in Chesaning, a small town within Michigan. Households in Chesaning report a median income of $57,426 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.6%. Typical homes in Chesaning are valued around $123,900, and the median resident age is 44.3 years. Educational attainment runs 17.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 49.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 1 residential building permits were authorized in Chesaning (Low Activity), per Census BPS data.
Living costs in Michigan run below the national norm: the state registers 96.2 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. 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. Commute times here average 18.5 minutes, with 78.1% driving alone and 5.0% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. 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 Chesaning'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 schools and households to work and mobility 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 Chesaning, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; 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 Chesaning?
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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the education layer cover for Chesaning?
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 4 public schools within the city match. 17.7% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Chesaning?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 78.1%. The reported mean trip to work is 18.5 minutes.
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 Chesaning?
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 St. Ignace (2,409 residents, $60,735 income); Charlevoix (2,420 residents, $52,344 income); Hudson (2,385 residents, $57,500 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Riverview, DE (2,412 residents); Brooklyn, IN (2,410 residents); Belle Plaine, IA (2,412 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.
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 Chesaning growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -58 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 housing units authorized in 2024. 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.
2020 estimate
2,457
2025 estimate
2,399
Period change
-2.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 7.6% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.2 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
D
City profile score · Chesaning, MI
41/100
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.
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.
Poverty rate D
7.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$57,426
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
17.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Chesaning profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Poverty rate: 49/100 (D) · 7.6%
Household income: 31/100 (F) · $57,426
Bachelor's+ share: 28/100 (F) · 17.7%
How does Chesaning compare to other US cities?
Chesaning measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income31% higher than other cities
Home value19% 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 Chesaning 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 Chesaning near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Chesaning ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Chesaning only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#402 of 718
44th percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#445 of 721
38th percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#380 of 727
48th percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#402 of 727
44th 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
31st percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Chesaning's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$123,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 81% 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
Chesaning's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,266 of 15,516
More affordable than 85% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,136 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.2×, Chesaning sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,266 of 15,516 and #2,136 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
$57,426Chesaning, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Chesaning, 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 Chesaning, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)49.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,411
Median Income
$57,426
Median Home Value
$123,900
Median Age
44.3
Poverty Rate
7.6%
Labor force participation
49.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.7%
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Chesaning's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,457 residents
2021
2,447 residents
2022
2,426 residents
2023
2,413 residents
2024
2,403 residents
2025
2,399 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Low Activity
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
2
2
0
$0.3M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
1
1
0
$0.2M
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
1
1
0
$0.3M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
18.5 minutes
Drive Alone
78.1%
Carpool
9.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.1%
Work from Home
5.0%
Other
4.6%
Based on 988 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 Chesaning. 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 Chesaning 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 Chesaning sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Chesaning 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 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.