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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-MACKINAC-ISLAND-MI · Mackinac Island, MI 663 pop · income 78th pct · 6 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 Mackinac Island
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Mackinac Island on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Gilmore City · lowest
51,250
Gilmore City · lowest
51,250 median HH income
41.7% of the leader · rank #1
Camano · near
100,124
Camano · near
100,124 median HH income
81.5% of the leader · rank #2
Mackinac Isla… · this city
100,125
Mackinac Isla… · this city
100,125 median HH income
81.5% of the leader · rank #3
Brighton · near
100,134
Brighton · near
100,134 median HH income
81.5% of the leader · rank #4
Lake St. Croi… · near
100,134
Lake St. Croi… · near
100,134 median HH income
81.5% of the leader · rank #5
Belle Fontaine · near
100,144
Belle Fontaine · near
100,144 median HH income
81.5% of the leader · rank #6
Ida · highest
122,885
Ida · highest
122,885 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 Mackinac Island 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: 663.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Mackinac Island - the verdict
Nationally, Mackinac Island sits in the 78th percentile for household income and the 1st percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
78th
percentile, household income
95th
percentile, home value
32nd
percentile, median rent
1st
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: Mackinac Island, MI
Mackinac Island is a small town in Michigan, home to 663 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $100,125 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 13.7%. Mackinac Island's housing stock carries a median value of $834,600, and the median resident age is 39.8 years. About 38.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 70.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 8 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 43% from five years earlier. Mackinac Island's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 8739.5 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Michigan run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Michigan at 96.2 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,113 per month. 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 Mackinac Island'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 schools and households to housing and income to within-city variation to population change 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 Mackinac Island, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Mackinac Island?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 38.1% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Mackinac Island?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 8.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.7%, 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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
What can 6 Census tracts reveal inside Mackinac Island?
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Mackinac Island?
Within Michigan, the closest population matches are Ida (661 residents, $122,885 income); Lake City (669 residents, $59,750 income); Byron (654 residents, $64,135 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Cynthiana, IN (663 residents); Sharpsville, IN (663 residents); Gilmore City, IA (663 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.
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 Mackinac Island growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +35 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +6.0% 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
+6.0%
2025 estimate
617
2020 estimate
582
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Mackinac Island?
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.
Walking is the largest reported mode at 30.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
14.2%
Work from home
8.2%
Drive alone
4.1%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 415 workers age 16+.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Mackinac Island?
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 8739.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 283% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
8571.4
Violent rate
168.1
Total reported rate
8739.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
High income · poverty 13.7% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.2 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
C
City profile score · Mackinac Island, MI
57/100
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.
Household income B+
$100,125
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share B
38.1%
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.
Violent crime C-
168 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
13.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Mackinac Island profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 77/100 (B+) · $100,125
Bachelor's+ share: 72/100 (B) · 38.1%
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Violent crime: 54/100 (C-) · 168 /100k
Poverty rate: 25/100 (F) · 13.7%
Where Mackinac Island sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Mackinac Island'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 - Mackinac Island highlighted among 21 peers.Read the chart values
Mackinac Island, MI (this city): home $834,600, crime 8,740/100k
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 Mackinac Island compare to other US cities?
Here's how Mackinac Island stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income78% higher than other cities
Home value95% pricier than other cities
Median rent32% pricier than other cities
Safety1% 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, Mackinac Island ranks #255 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 Mackinac Island 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 Mackinac Island near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Mackinac Island ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Mackinac Island only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#66 of 718
91st percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#5 of 721
99th percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#194 of 727
73rd percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#133 of 727
82nd 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
78th percentile nationally for median household income · 1st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Mackinac Island's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Mackinac Island'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 Mackinac Island's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$834,6005th percentilemore affordable than 5% 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
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,125 of 15,516
More affordable than 3% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11,089 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 8.3×, Mackinac Island sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,125 of 15,516 and #11,089 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$100,125Mackinac Island, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Mackinac Island, 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 Mackinac Island, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)38.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)70.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
663
Median Income
$100,125
Median Home Value
$834,600
Median Age
39.8
Poverty Rate
13.7%
Labor force participation
70.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
38.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
8739.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
168.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
8571.4
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
Mackinac Island's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
582 residents
2021
586 residents
2022
596 residents
2023
596 residents
2024
608 residents
2025
617 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
8
housing units authorized
Single-Family
8
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
12.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
14
14
0
$3.5M
2020
1
1
0
$1.1M
2021
16
16
0
$3.5M
2022
10
7
3
$4.0M
2023
10
10
0
$6.6M
2024
8
8
0
$3.0M
Permit volume decreased 43% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
4.1%
Carpool
13.5%
Public Transit
14.2%
Walk
30.1%
Work from Home
8.2%
Other
29.9%
Based on 415 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 Mackinac Island. 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 Mackinac Island 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 Mackinac Island sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Mackinac Island 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.