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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-FIFE-LAKE-MI · Fife Lake, MI 359 pop · income 46th 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 Fife Lake
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Fife Lake on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cove · lowest
26,172
Cove · lowest
26,172 median HH income
12.9% of the leader · rank #1
Fife Lake · this city
67,188
Fife Lake · this city
67,188 median HH income
33.1% of the leader · rank #2
Dupont · near
67,188
Dupont · near
67,188 median HH income
33.1% of the leader · rank #3
Vernon · near
67,188
Vernon · near
67,188 median HH income
33.1% of the leader · rank #4
Winchendon · near
67,188
Winchendon · near
67,188 median HH income
33.1% of the leader · rank #5
Schroon Lake · near
67,188
Schroon Lake · near
67,188 median HH income
33.1% of the leader · rank #6
Manalapan · highest
203,250
Manalapan · highest
203,250 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 Fife 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: 359.
Nationally, Fife Lake sits in the 46th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
46th
percentile, household income
38th
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: Fife Lake, MI
Fife Lake is a small town in Michigan, home to 359 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $67,188 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 4.5%. Typical homes in Fife Lake are valued around $185,200, and the median resident age is 49.3 years. Educational attainment runs 24.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 55.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 43.0°F with 35.3 inches of precipitation per year.
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). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,113 per month. 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 Fife 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 comparison shortlist to housing and income to schools and households to climate and hazard context to work and mobility to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Fife Lake, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Fife Lake?
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 Leonard (359 residents, $91,250 income); Jasper (358 residents, $54,643 income); Manistee Lake (364 residents, $52,917 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Cove, AR (359 residents); California Pines, CA (359 residents); Gerrard, CO (359 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Fife Lake?
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 2.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the education layer cover for Fife Lake?
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 3 public schools within the city match. 24.4% 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.
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 43.0°F, with 35.3 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.
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 Fife Lake?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 82.4%. 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.
Drive alone
82.4%
Work from home
5.5%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 182 workers age 16+.
Is Fife Lake growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +6 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.3% 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 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.
2020 estimate
466
2025 estimate
472
Period change
+1.3%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 4.5% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.2 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
C-
City profile score · Fife Lake, MI
54/100
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-
4.5%
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
24.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$67,188
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).
Fife Lake profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 69/100 (B-) · 4.5%
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 47/100 (D) · 24.4%
Household income: 45/100 (D) · $67,188
How does Fife Lake compare to other US cities?
Where Fife Lake sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income46% higher than other cities
Home value38% 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 Fife 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 Fife Lake near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Fife Lake ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Fife Lake only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#260 of 718
64th percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#256 of 721
64th percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#495 of 727
31st percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#275 of 727
62nd 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
46th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Fife Lake's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$185,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 62% 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
Fife Lake's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,337 of 15,516
More affordable than 66% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,647 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.8×, Fife Lake sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,337 of 15,516 and #4,647 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
$67,188Fife Lake, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Fife 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 Fife Lake, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
359
Median Income
$67,188
Median Home Value
$185,200
Median Age
49.3
Poverty Rate
4.5%
Labor force participation
55.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.4%
Climate
Avg Temperature
43.0°F
Annual Precipitation
35.3"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Fife Lake's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
466 residents
2021
469 residents
2022
468 residents
2023
469 residents
2024
469 residents
2025
472 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
82.4%
Carpool
12.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
5.5%
Based on 182 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 Fife 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 Fife 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 Fife Lake sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Fife 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.