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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-FORESTVILLE-MI · Forestville, MI 142 pop · income 9th 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 Forestville
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Forestville on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Forestville · this city · lowest
41,250
Forestville · this city · lowest
41,250 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #1
Pierson · near
41,250
Pierson · near
41,250 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #2
Gu-Win · near
41,250
Gu-Win · near
41,250 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #3
Mount Vernon · near
41,250
Mount Vernon · near
41,250 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #4
Kaltag · near
41,250
Kaltag · near
41,250 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #5
Hickory Corne… · highest
96,105
Hickory Corne… · highest
96,105 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Forestville 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: 142.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Forestville lands in the 9th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
9th
percentile, household income
22nd
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: Forestville, MI
Michigan's Forestville is a small town, with 142 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Forestville brings in $41,250 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 36.2%. Typical homes in Forestville are valued around $134,400, and the median resident age is 62.8 years. About 13.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 27.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,113 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Michigan run around $238, per EIA 2023 residential energy 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 Forestville'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 population change to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Forestville, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Forestville?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 36.2%, 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. 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.
Is Forestville growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -2 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.3% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Forestville?
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 82.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Forestville?
Within Michigan, the closest population matches are Free Soil (139 residents, $50,000 income); Honor (145 residents, $45,250 income); Pierson (139 residents, $41,250 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Lockwood CDP (Monterey County), CA (142 residents); Blue Sky, CO (142 residents); Fishersburg, IN (142 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 36.2% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.2 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
F
City profile score · Forestville, MI
20/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
13.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$41,250
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
36.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Forestville profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 15/100 (F) · 13.3%
Household income: 8/100 (F) · $41,250
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 36.2%
How does Forestville compare to other US cities?
Where Forestville sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income9% higher than other cities
Home value22% 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 Forestville 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 Forestville near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Forestville ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Forestville only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#646 of 718
10th percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#406 of 721
44th percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#10 of 727
98th percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#525 of 727
28th 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
9th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Forestville's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$134,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 78% 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
Forestville's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,940 of 15,516
More affordable than 49% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,521 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.3×, Forestville sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,940 of 15,516 and #6,521 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
$41,250Forestville, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Forestville, 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 Forestville, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)13.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)36.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)27.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
142
Median Income
$41,250
Median Home Value
$134,400
Median Age
62.8
Poverty Rate
36.2%
Labor force participation
27.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
13.3%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Forestville's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
86 residents
2021
86 residents
2022
85 residents
2023
85 residents
2024
85 residents
2025
84 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
82.9%
Carpool
2.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
5.7%
Work from Home
8.6%
Based on 35 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 Forestville. 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 Forestville 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 Forestville sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Forestville 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, 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.