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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-LANSING-MI · Lansing, MI 112,546 pop · income 23rd pct · 84 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 Lansing
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Lansing on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Page Park · lowest
52,153
Page Park · lowest
52,153 median HH income
43.7% of the leader · rank #1
Pocomoke City · near
52,163
Pocomoke City · near
52,163 median HH income
43.7% of the leader · rank #2
Birchwood Lak… · near
52,164
Birchwood Lak… · near
52,164 median HH income
43.7% of the leader · rank #3
Fayetteville · near
52,165
Fayetteville · near
52,165 median HH income
43.7% of the leader · rank #4
Lansing · this city
52,170
Lansing · this city
52,170 median HH income
43.7% of the leader · rank #5
Shelbina · near
52,176
Shelbina · near
52,176 median HH income
43.7% of the leader · rank #6
Troy · highest
119,299
Troy · highest
119,299 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 Lansing 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: 112,546.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Lansing - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Lansing places in the 23rd percentile for household income and the 8th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
23rd
percentile, household income
17th
percentile, home value
32nd
percentile, median rent
8th
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: Lansing, MI
Michigan's Lansing is a mid-sized U.S. city, with 112,546 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $52,170 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 14.8%. Home values in Lansing run a median of $119,400, and the median resident age is 33.5 years. Educational attainment runs 29.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 62.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 212 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Slowing), down 21% from five years earlier. Lansing's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 3844.1 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, above the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not 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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Michigan run around $238, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Commute times here average 17.1 minutes, with 67.3% driving alone and 13.2% working from home, per Census ACS commuting 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 Lansing'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 within-city variation to schools and households to housing and income to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Lansing, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in Lansing?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3844.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 69% higher 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Lansing?
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 Dearborn (107,846 residents, $65,192 income); Ann Arbor (121,179 residents, $81,089 income); Livonia (94,058 residents, $96,317 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Las Cruces, NM (112,612 residents); Gresham, OR (112,818 residents); Pompano Beach, FL (112,212 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.
PlainCities matches 84 Census tracts to this city.
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.
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 8 public schools within the city match. 29.6% 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.
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 Lansing?
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 2.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.3×
Home value
$119,400
Household income
$52,170
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,322 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 212 housing units authorized in 2024. 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
112,562
2025 estimate
113,884
Period change
+1.2%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Lansing?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 67.3%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.1 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
67.3%
Work from home
13.2%
Public transit
3.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 54,789 workers age 16+.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
F
City profile score · Lansing, 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.
Bachelor's+ share C
29.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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.
Household income F
$52,170
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
1,345 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Lansing profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 57/100 (C) · 29.6%
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Household income: 23/100 (F) · $52,170
Poverty rate: 23/100 (F) · 14.8%
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,345 /100k
Where Lansing sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Lansing'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 - Lansing highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Lansing, MI (this city): home $119,400, crime 3,844/100k
Las Cruces, NM : home $217,400, crime 5,593/100k
Gresham, OR : home $440,000, crime 2,837/100k
Peoria, IL : home $149,500, crime 5,629/100k
Murrieta, CA : home $606,900, crime 1,127/100k
Dearborn, MI : home $205,900, crime 2,292/100k
Ann Arbor, MI : home $435,100, crime 2,018/100k
Livonia, MI : home $265,300, crime 1,490/100k
Sterling Heights, MI : home $260,700, crime 1,272/100k
Troy, MI : home $396,800, crime 1,392/100k
Warren, MI : home $181,900, crime 2,096/100k
How does Lansing compare to other US cities?
Here's how Lansing stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income23% higher than other cities
Home value17% pricier than other cities
Median rent32% pricier than other cities
Safety8% 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: Lansing ranks #237 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 Lansing 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 Lansing near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Lansing ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Lansing only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#489 of 718
32nd percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#478 of 721
34th percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#168 of 727
76th percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#199 of 727
73rd 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
23rd percentile nationally for median household income · 8th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Lansing's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Lansing'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 Lansing's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$119,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 83% 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
Lansing's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,889 of 15,516
More affordable than 81% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#15 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 2.3×, Lansing sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,889 of 15,516 and #15 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
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
$52,170Lansing, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Lansing, 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 Lansing, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)29.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
112,546
Median Income
$52,170
Median Home Value
$119,400
Median Age
33.5
Poverty Rate
14.8%
Labor force participation
62.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
29.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3844.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1345.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2499.0
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
8
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Lansing's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
112,562 residents
2021
112,532 residents
2022
112,520 residents
2023
112,716 residents
2024
113,125 residents
2025
113,884 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
212
housing units authorized
Single-Family
26
detached homes
Multifamily
186
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
269
25
244
$36.5M
2020
315
27
288
$42.1M
2021
362
30
332
$48.1M
2022
255
30
225
$33.5M
2023
225
24
201
$29.4M
2024
212
26
186
$28.2M
Permit volume decreased 21% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.1 minutes
Drive Alone
67.3%
Carpool
11.5%
Public Transit
3.3%
Walk
2.4%
Work from Home
13.2%
Other
2.3%
Based on 54,789 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 Lansing. 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 Lansing 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 Lansing sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Lansing 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 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.