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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-HASTINGS-MI · Hastings, MI 7,515 pop · income 29th pct · 16 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 Hastings
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hastings on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Albion · lowest
40,040
Albion · lowest
40,040 median HH income
16.8% of the leader · rank #1
Sioux Rapids · near
56,307
Sioux Rapids · near
56,307 median HH income
23.6% of the leader · rank #2
Harmony · near
56,307
Harmony · near
56,307 median HH income
23.6% of the leader · rank #3
South River · near
56,307
South River · near
56,307 median HH income
23.6% of the leader · rank #4
Paulding · near
56,308
Paulding · near
56,308 median HH income
23.6% of the leader · rank #5
Hastings · this city
56,309
Hastings · this city
56,309 median HH income
23.6% of the leader · rank #6
Bull Run CDP… · highest
238,500
Bull Run CDP… · highest
238,500 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 Hastings 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: 7,515.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Hastings - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Hastings lands in the 29th percentile for household income and the 43rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
29th
percentile, household income
30th
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: Hastings, MI
Michigan's Hastings is a small town, with 7,515 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Hastings households earn a median of $56,309 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.0%. Home values in Hastings run a median of $159,000, and the median resident age is 41.7 years. Educational attainment runs 26.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 52.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 8 residential building permits were authorized in Hastings (Rapid Growth), up 33% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Hastings reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1584.8 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Hastings's yearly average temperature at 47.5°F with 39.6 inches of precipitation per year and 68.0 inches of snowfall.
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. 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 Hastings'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 work and mobility to reported crime to housing and income to climate and hazard context to within-city variation to schools and households to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Hastings, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, local building permits, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Hastings?
Within Michigan, the closest population matches are Iron Mountain (7,508 residents, $56,622 income); Freeland (7,562 residents, $103,431 income); Brighton (7,576 residents, $81,772 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are River Oaks, TX (7,516 residents); Bull Run CDP (Fairfax County), VA (7,513 residents); Longboat Key, FL (7,512 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Hastings?
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 73.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Hastings?
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 1584.8 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.
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 16 Census tracts to this city.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Hastings?
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 6.0%, 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.
Household income
$56,309
Home value
$159,000
Value / income
2.8×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 47.5°F, with 39.6 inches of precipitation and 68.0 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.
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.
Mean temperature
47.5°F
Annual precipitation
39.6 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
49.6
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
The NCES join finds 7 public schools within the city match. 26.8% 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+
26.8%
Poverty estimate
6.0%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Hastings growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -38 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 8 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
-0.5%
2025 estimate
7,490
2020 estimate
7,528
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 6.0% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.2 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
D
City profile score · Hastings, MI
43/100
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.
Poverty rate C
6.0%
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 C-
26.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$56,309
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
386 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Hastings profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 59/100 (C) · 6.0%
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 52/100 (C-) · 26.8%
Household income: 29/100 (F) · $56,309
Violent crime: 23/100 (F) · 386 /100k
Where Hastings sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Hastings'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 - Hastings highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Hastings, MI (this city): home $159,000, crime 1,585/100k
River Oaks, TX : home $202,800, crime 1,414/100k
Longboat Key, FL : home $959,200, crime 414/100k
Crete, NE : home $203,900, crime 2,734/100k
Brighton, MI : home $302,800, crime 1,339/100k
Albion, MI : home $91,100, crime 4,132/100k
Ludington, MI : home $192,800, crime 1,148/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Hastings compare to other US cities?
Here's how Hastings stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income29% higher than other cities
Home value30% 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.
Zoom in to just Michigan and the picture shifts: Hastings ranks #161 of 254 Michigan cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Hastings 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 Hastings near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hastings ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hastings only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#418 of 718
42nd percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#338 of 721
53rd percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#441 of 727
39th percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#233 of 727
68th 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
29th percentile nationally for median household income · 43rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Hastings's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Hastings'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 Hastings's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$159,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 70% 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
Hastings's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,711 of 15,516
More affordable than 63% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,943 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.8×, Hastings sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,711 of 15,516 and #4,943 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
$56,309Hastings, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hastings, 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 Hastings, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)26.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,515
Median Income
$56,309
Median Home Value
$159,000
Median Age
41.7
Poverty Rate
6.0%
Labor force participation
52.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
26.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1584.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
386.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1198.6
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
47.5°F
Annual Precipitation
39.6"
Annual Snowfall
68.0"
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
Hastings's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,528 residents
2021
7,553 residents
2022
7,517 residents
2023
7,531 residents
2024
7,524 residents
2025
7,490 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
8
housing units authorized
Single-Family
8
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
6
6
0
$0.8M
2020
7
7
0
$1.6M
2021
1
1
0
$0.4M
2022
6
6
0
$1.6M
2023
8
8
0
$2.0M
2024
8
8
0
$2.0M
Permit volume increased 33% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
73.9%
Carpool
7.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.1%
Work from Home
11.2%
Other
3.9%
Based on 3,240 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 Hastings. 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 Hastings 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 Hastings sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hastings 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.