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-ISHPEMING-MI · Ishpeming, MI 6,173 pop · income 24th 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 Ishpeming
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ishpeming on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Aztec · lowest
42,699
Aztec · lowest
42,699 median HH income
22.7% of the leader · rank #1
Ishpeming · this city
52,717
Ishpeming · this city
52,717 median HH income
28.0% of the leader · rank #2
Taylorville · near
52,720
Taylorville · near
52,720 median HH income
28.0% of the leader · rank #3
Heidelberg · near
52,722
Heidelberg · near
52,722 median HH income
28.0% of the leader · rank #4
Kutztown · near
52,722
Kutztown · near
52,722 median HH income
28.0% of the leader · rank #5
Bushnell · near
52,723
Bushnell · near
52,723 median HH income
28.0% of the leader · rank #6
Huntington Wo… · highest
188,229
Huntington Wo… · highest
188,229 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 Ishpeming 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: 6,173.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Ishpeming - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Ishpeming lands in the 24th percentile for household income and the 61st percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
24th
percentile, household income
13th
percentile, home value
32nd
percentile, median rent
61st
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: Ishpeming, MI
Ishpeming is a small town in Michigan, home to 6,173 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Ishpeming households earn a median of $52,717 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.2%. Home values in Ishpeming run a median of $109,200, and the median resident age is 35.5 years. About 26.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 56.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Ishpeming reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1081.5 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Michigan's average monthly utility costs around $238 (state average). Commute times here average 17.6 minutes, with 73.6% driving alone and 6.9% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. 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 Ishpeming'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 housing and income to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Ishpeming, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Ishpeming growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +52 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.8% 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.
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.
What does the education layer cover for Ishpeming?
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 1 public school within the city match. 26.3% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Ishpeming?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Ishpeming?
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 Lake Fenton (6,168 residents, $112,676 income); Rockford (6,162 residents, $100,156 income); Northville (6,080 residents, $143,875 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Slinger, WI (6,173 residents); Willard, OH (6,174 residents); Bridgeport, TX (6,174 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 Ishpeming?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 73.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.6 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. 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
73.6%
Work from home
6.9%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,735 workers age 16+.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Ishpeming?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1081.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 53% 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
1081.5
Violent rate
193.7
Property rate
887.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
F
City profile score · Ishpeming, MI
39/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share C-
26.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime D
194 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$52,717
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Ishpeming profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 52/100 (C-) · 26.3%
Violent crime: 49/100 (D) · 194 /100k
Household income: 24/100 (F) · $52,717
Poverty rate: 19/100 (F) · 17.2%
Where Ishpeming sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Ishpeming'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 - Ishpeming highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Ishpeming, MI (this city): home $109,200, crime 1,082/100k
Slinger, WI : home $337,700, crime 510/100k
Bridgeport, TX : home $241,100, crime 967/100k
Torrington, WY : home $194,100, crime 1,555/100k
Braidwood, IL : home $205,900, crime 454/100k
Aztec, NM : home $164,700, crime 1,915/100k
Rockford, MI : home $294,800, crime 890/100k
Northville, MI : home $455,100, crime 624/100k
Manistee, MI : home $144,400, crime 1,624/100k
Milan, MI : home $233,700, crime 868/100k
Huntington Woods, MI : home $470,600, crime 337/100k
How does Ishpeming compare to other US cities?
Ishpeming measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income24% higher than other cities
Home value13% pricier than other cities
Median rent32% pricier than other cities
Safety61% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Michigan alone, Ishpeming ranks #109 of 254 Michigan cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Ishpeming 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 Ishpeming near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ishpeming ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ishpeming only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#480 of 718
33rd percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#528 of 721
27th percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#116 of 727
83rd percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#242 of 727
66th 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
24th percentile nationally for median household income · 61st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Ishpeming's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Ishpeming'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 Ishpeming's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$109,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 87% 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
Ishpeming's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,908 of 15,516
More affordable than 88% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,816 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.1×, Ishpeming sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,908 of 15,516 and #1,816 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
$52,717Ishpeming, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ishpeming, 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 Ishpeming, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)26.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,173
Median Income
$52,717
Median Home Value
$109,200
Median Age
35.5
Poverty Rate
17.2%
Labor force participation
56.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
26.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1081.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
193.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
887.8
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
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Ishpeming's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
6,153 residents
2021
6,177 residents
2022
6,187 residents
2023
6,197 residents
2024
6,200 residents
2025
6,205 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.6 minutes
Drive Alone
73.6%
Carpool
10.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
6.8%
Work from Home
6.9%
Other
2.1%
Based on 2,735 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 Ishpeming. 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 Ishpeming 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 Ishpeming sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ishpeming 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.