Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetMI-IRON-RIVER-MI · Iron River, MI 3,009 pop · income 18th pct · 5 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 Iron River
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Iron River on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Olney · lowest
39,231
Olney · lowest
39,231 median HH income
15.7% of the leader · rank #1
Iron River · this city
48,750
Iron River · this city
48,750 median HH income
19.5% of the leader · rank #2
Lakeview · near
48,750
Lakeview · near
48,750 median HH income
19.5% of the leader · rank #3
Providence · near
48,750
Providence · near
48,750 median HH income
19.5% of the leader · rank #4
Gambell · near
48,750
Gambell · near
48,750 median HH income
19.5% of the leader · rank #5
Ak-Chin · near
48,750
Ak-Chin · near
48,750 median HH income
19.5% of the leader · rank #6
Reliez Valley · highest
250,001
Reliez Valley · highest
250,001 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 Iron River 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: 3,009.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Iron River - the verdict
Iron River ranks in the 18th percentile for household income and the 76th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
18th
percentile, household income
3rd
percentile, home value
32nd
percentile, median rent
76th
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: Iron River, MI
3,009 people live in Iron River, Michigan - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Iron River brings in $48,750 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 14.8%. Home values in Iron River run a median of $75,000, and the median resident age is 41.4 years. Educational attainment runs 16.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 56.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Iron River reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 723.7 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,113 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $238 across Michigan, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Iron River'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 reported crime to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to population change to schools and households to housing and income to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Iron River, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Iron River?
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 723.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 68% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Iron River?
Within Michigan, the closest population matches are Bad Axe (3,010 residents, $47,535 income); Whitehall (2,974 residents, $58,750 income); Corunna (3,054 residents, $47,420 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Kelly Ridge, CA (3,010 residents); Dry Ridge, OH (3,008 residents); Groveville, NJ (3,007 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 Iron River?
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 76.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
What can 5 Census tracts reveal inside Iron River?
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.
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.
Population change
Is Iron River 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 grew by +22 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.7% 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.
Period change
+0.7%
2025 estimate
3,027
2020 estimate
3,005
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the education layer cover for Iron River?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 16.5% 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 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.
Matched public schools
2
Bachelor's degree+
16.5%
Poverty estimate
14.8%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Iron River?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.8%, 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.
Household income
$48,750
Home value
$75,000
Value / income
1.5×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
F
City profile score · Iron River, MI
30/100
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 F
329 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
16.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$48,750
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Iron River profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Violent crime: 29/100 (F) · 329 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 24/100 (F) · 16.5%
Poverty rate: 23/100 (F) · 14.8%
Household income: 19/100 (F) · $48,750
Where Iron River sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Iron River'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 - Iron River highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Iron River, MI (this city): home $75,000, crime 724/100k
Olney, TX : home $92,200, crime 397/100k
Bad Axe, MI : home $106,700, crime 1,722/100k
Whitehall, MI : home $205,800, crime 1,199/100k
Corunna, MI : home $142,000, crime 365/100k
Potterville, MI : home $125,400, crime 161/100k
Fowlerville, MI : home $189,000, crime 3,624/100k
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 Iron River compare to other US cities?
Where Iron River sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income18% higher than other cities
Home value3% pricier than other cities
Median rent32% pricier than other cities
Safety76% 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: Iron River ranks #72 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 Iron River 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 Iron River near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Iron River ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Iron River only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#544 of 718
24th percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#681 of 721
6th percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#168 of 727
76th percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#435 of 727
40th 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
18th percentile nationally for median household income · 76th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Iron River's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Iron River'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 Iron River's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$75,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 97% 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
Iron River's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#451 of 15,516
More affordable than 97% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#442 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.5×, Iron River sits in the affordable band:
national rank #451 of 15,516 and #442 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
$48,750Iron River, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Iron River, 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 Iron River, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,009
Median Income
$48,750
Median Home Value
$75,000
Median Age
41.4
Poverty Rate
14.8%
Labor force participation
56.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
723.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
328.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
394.7
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
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Iron River's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,005 residents
2021
2,999 residents
2022
3,020 residents
2023
3,033 residents
2024
3,034 residents
2025
3,027 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.7%
Carpool
9.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.6%
Work from Home
7.2%
Other
4.5%
Based on 1,367 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 Iron River. 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 Iron River 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 Iron River sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Iron River 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.