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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-COLDWATER-MI · Coldwater, MI 13,847 pop · income 20th pct · 13 tracts
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 Coldwater
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Coldwater on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bulls Gap · lowest
50,066
Bulls Gap · lowest
50,066 median HH income
41.2% of the leader · rank #1
Erwin · near
50,077
Erwin · near
50,077 median HH income
41.2% of the leader · rank #2
Stevens · near
50,077
Stevens · near
50,077 median HH income
41.2% of the leader · rank #3
Ash Grove · near
50,078
Ash Grove · near
50,078 median HH income
41.2% of the leader · rank #4
Augusta · near
50,080
Augusta · near
50,080 median HH income
41.2% of the leader · rank #5
Coldwater · this city
50,084
Coldwater · this city
50,084 median HH income
41.2% of the leader · rank #6
Channahon · highest
121,458
Channahon · highest
121,458 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 Coldwater 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: 13,847.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Coldwater - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Coldwater places in the 20th percentile for household income and the 43rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
20th
percentile, household income
18th
percentile, home value
32nd
percentile, median rent
43rd
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: Coldwater, MI
Michigan's Coldwater is a small town, with 13,847 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Coldwater report a median income of $50,084 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 11.6%. Typical homes in Coldwater are valued around $120,900, and the median resident age is 40.2 years. About 14.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 47.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 4 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 56% from five years earlier. Coldwater reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1581.2 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,113 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Michigan run around $238, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. The average commute for Coldwater workers runs 15.4 minutes, with 76.6% driving alone and 4.4% 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 Coldwater'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 population change to within-city variation to comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility to reported crime to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Coldwater, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Population change
Is Coldwater 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 +802 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +6.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What can 13 Census tracts reveal inside Coldwater?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 13 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Coldwater?
Within Michigan, the closest population matches are Sault Ste. Marie (13,373 residents, $55,031 income); Fraser (14,604 residents, $61,118 income); Owosso (14,658 residents, $53,702 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Beachwood, OH (13,850 residents); Sauk Rapids, MN (13,851 residents); Channahon, IL (13,854 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
How far does income reach against housing in Coldwater?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.6%, 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. 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Coldwater?
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 76.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 15.4 minutes.
Public transit
0.3%
Work from home
4.4%
Drive alone
76.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 5,243 workers age 16+.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Coldwater?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1581.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 31% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1342.7
Violent rate
238.5
Total reported rate
1581.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the education layer cover for Coldwater?
The NCES join finds 7 public schools within the city match. 14.5% 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 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.
Matched public schools
7
Bachelor's degree+
14.5%
Poverty estimate
11.6%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
F
City profile score · Coldwater, MI
34/100
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.
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 D
239 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
11.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$50,084
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
14.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Coldwater profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Violent crime: 42/100 (D) · 239 /100k
Poverty rate: 33/100 (F) · 11.6%
Household income: 20/100 (F) · $50,084
Bachelor's+ share: 19/100 (F) · 14.5%
Where Coldwater sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Coldwater'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 - Coldwater highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Coldwater, MI (this city): home $120,900, crime 1,581/100k
Beachwood, OH : home $381,600, crime 2,275/100k
Sauk Rapids, MN : home $240,200, crime 1,376/100k
Channahon, IL : home $298,000, crime 571/100k
Lyndhurst, OH : home $198,900, crime 1,188/100k
Sault Ste. Marie, MI : home $127,300, crime 1,510/100k
Fraser, MI : home $193,600, crime 2,181/100k
Owosso, MI : home $121,500, crime 1,637/100k
Ionia, MI : home $161,100, crime 740/100k
Rochester, MI : home $450,800, crime 401/100k
Woodhaven, MI : home $221,200, crime 1,655/100k
How does Coldwater compare to other US cities?
Here's how Coldwater stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income20% higher than other cities
Home value18% pricier than other cities
Median rent32% pricier than other cities
Safety43% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Michigan alone, Coldwater ranks #158 of 254 Michigan cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Coldwater 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 Coldwater near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Coldwater ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Coldwater only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#520 of 718
28th percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#469 of 721
35th percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#251 of 727
65th percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#501 of 727
31st 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
20th percentile nationally for median household income · 43rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Coldwater's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Coldwater'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 Coldwater's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$120,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 82% 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
Coldwater's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,559 of 15,516
More affordable than 77% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#294 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.4×, Coldwater sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,559 of 15,516 and #294 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$50,084Coldwater, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Coldwater, 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 Coldwater, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
13,847
Median Income
$50,084
Median Home Value
$120,900
Median Age
40.2
Poverty Rate
11.6%
Labor force participation
47.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1581.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
238.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1342.7
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
7
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Coldwater's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
13,414 residents
2021
13,555 residents
2022
12,912 residents
2023
14,162 residents
2024
14,261 residents
2025
14,216 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
9
7
2
$1.9M
2020
5
5
0
$1.1M
2021
2
2
0
$0.5M
2022
320
8
312
$41.0M
2023
8
8
0
$2.5M
2024
4
4
0
$1.9M
Permit volume decreased 56% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
15.4 minutes
Drive Alone
76.6%
Carpool
13.7%
Public Transit
0.3%
Walk
3.5%
Work from Home
4.4%
Other
1.5%
Based on 5,243 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 Coldwater. 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 Coldwater 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 Coldwater sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Coldwater 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.