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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-EAST-LANSING-MI · East Lansing, MI 45,394 pop · income 11th 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 East Lansing
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest East Lansing on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Saginaw · lowest
37,298
Saginaw · lowest
37,298 median HH income
20.2% of the leader · rank #1
Ardmore · near
43,542
Ardmore · near
43,542 median HH income
23.6% of the leader · rank #2
Hartford · near
43,542
Hartford · near
43,542 median HH income
23.6% of the leader · rank #3
East Lansing · this city
43,547
East Lansing · this city
43,547 median HH income
23.6% of the leader · rank #4
Delphi · near
43,548
Delphi · near
43,548 median HH income
23.6% of the leader · rank #5
Stollings · near
43,548
Stollings · near
43,548 median HH income
23.6% of the leader · rank #6
Brentwood · highest
184,720
Brentwood · highest
184,720 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 East Lansing 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: 45,394.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
East Lansing - the verdict
Nationally, East Lansing sits in the 11th percentile for household income and the 48th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
11th
percentile, household income
56th
percentile, home value
32nd
percentile, median rent
48th
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: East Lansing, MI
East Lansing is a small city in Michigan, home to 45,394 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $43,547 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 7.5%. Home values in East Lansing run a median of $251,600, and the median resident age is 21.3 years. About 67.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 51.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier. East Lansing reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1440.4 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts East Lansing's yearly average temperature at 49.2°F with 34.3 inches of precipitation per year and 36.0 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Michigan run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Michigan at 96.2 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,113 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $238 across Michigan, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Workers in East Lansing report an average commute of 13.6 minutes, with 47.4% driving alone and 18.9% 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 East Lansing'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 schools and households to climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For East Lansing, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, local building permits, annual population history, matched public-school count.
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.
Question 1
Is East Lansing growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,325 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.8% 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.
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.
What does the education layer cover for East Lansing?
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 2 public schools within the city match. 67.4% 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 physical conditions frame life in East Lansing?
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 49.2°F, with 34.3 inches of precipitation and 36.0 inches of annual snowfall. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for East Lansing?
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 Saginaw (43,879 residents, $37,298 income); Roseville (47,240 residents, $61,222 income); Midland (42,461 residents, $74,906 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are West Seneca, NY (45,329 residents); Blacksburg, VA (45,288 residents); Brentwood, TN (45,272 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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in East Lansing?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 47.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 13.6 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. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Drive alone
47.4%
Work from home
18.9%
Public transit
5.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 21,026 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in East Lansing?
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
5.8×
Home value
$251,600
Household income
$43,547
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in East Lansing?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1440.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 37% 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
1440.4
Violent rate
219.9
Property rate
1220.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
D
City profile score · East Lansing, MI
48/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share A+
67.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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 C-
7.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime D
220 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$43,547
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
East Lansing profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 96/100 (A+) · 67.4%
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Poverty rate: 50/100 (C-) · 7.5%
Violent crime: 45/100 (D) · 220 /100k
Household income: 12/100 (F) · $43,547
Where East Lansing sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
East Lansing'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 - East Lansing highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
East Lansing, MI (this city): home $251,600, crime 1,440/100k
Blacksburg, VA : home $417,200, crime 792/100k
Brentwood, TN : home $926,700, crime 788/100k
Elmhurst, IL : home $532,800, crime 883/100k
Saginaw, MI : home $54,000, crime 4,160/100k
Roseville, MI : home $142,700, crime 3,833/100k
Midland, MI : home $192,400, crime 777/100k
Portage, MI : home $243,400, crime 3,252/100k
Lincoln Park, MI : home $117,400, crime 2,447/100k
Battle Creek, MI : home $127,600, crime 3,644/100k
How does East Lansing compare to other US cities?
Here's how East Lansing stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income11% higher than other cities
Home value56% pricier than other cities
Median rent32% pricier than other cities
Safety48% 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, East Lansing ranks #148 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 East Lansing 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 East Lansing near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, East Lansing ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares East Lansing only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#613 of 718
15th percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#126 of 721
83rd percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#382 of 727
47th percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#27 of 727
96th 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
11th percentile nationally for median household income · 48th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
East Lansing's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
East Lansing'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 East Lansing's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$251,60044th percentilemore affordable than 44% 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
East Lansing's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,887 of 15,516
More affordable than 10% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,909 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.8×, East Lansing sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,887 of 15,516 and #2,909 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$43,547East Lansing, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context East Lansing, 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 East Lansing, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)67.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)51.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
45,394
Median Income
$43,547
Median Home Value
$251,600
Median Age
21.3
Poverty Rate
7.5%
Labor force participation
51.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
67.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1440.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
219.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1220.5
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
49.2°F
Annual Precipitation
34.3"
Annual Snowfall
36.0"
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
East Lansing's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
48,030 residents
2021
34,857 residents
2022
47,683 residents
2023
49,057 residents
2024
48,698 residents
2025
49,355 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
6
6
0
$0.7M
2020
6
6
0
$0.7M
2021
26
4
22
$6.6M
2022
2
2
0
$0.3M
2023
2
0
2
$0.2M
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
13.6 minutes
Drive Alone
47.4%
Carpool
4.8%
Public Transit
5.9%
Walk
18.3%
Work from Home
18.9%
Other
4.7%
Based on 21,026 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 East Lansing. 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 East Lansing 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 East Lansing sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How East Lansing 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.