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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-POWERS-MI · Powers, MI 370 pop · income 5th 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 Powers
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Powers on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Powers · this city · lowest
35,417
Powers · this city · lowest
35,417 median HH income
30.8% of the leader · rank #1
Cottonwood · near
35,417
Cottonwood · near
35,417 median HH income
30.8% of the leader · rank #2
Section · near
35,417
Section · near
35,417 median HH income
30.8% of the leader · rank #3
Watson · near
35,417
Watson · near
35,417 median HH income
30.8% of the leader · rank #4
Buttonwillow · near
35,417
Buttonwillow · near
35,417 median HH income
30.8% of the leader · rank #5
Grand Beach · highest
115,000
Grand Beach · highest
115,000 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Powers on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 370.
Nationally, Powers sits in the 5th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
5th
percentile, household income
7th
percentile, home value
32nd
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Powers, MI
Michigan's Powers is a small town, with 370 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Powers report a median income of $35,417 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 13.0%. Typical homes in Powers are valued around $92,900, and the median resident age is 64.1 years. About 9.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 30.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. 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 24.0 minutes, with 62.6% driving alone and 0.0% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 49.6 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Powers'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 work and mobility to population change to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Powers, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Powers?
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. 9.8% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Powers?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 62.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 24.0 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -5 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.3% 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.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Which cities make useful reference points for Powers?
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.
Within Michigan, the closest population matches are Eastport (369 residents, $54,457 income); Vandalia (369 residents, $65,000 income); Advance (372 residents, $93,438 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Honomu, HI (370 residents); Cary, MS (370 residents); Maxwell, NM (370 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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Powers?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.6×
Home value
$92,900
Household income
$35,417
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 13.0% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.2 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
F
City profile score · Powers, MI
23/100
4 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.
Poverty rate F
13.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
9.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$35,417
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Powers profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Poverty rate: 28/100 (F) · 13.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 6/100 (F) · 9.8%
Household income: 1/100 (F) · $35,417
How does Powers compare to other US cities?
Where Powers sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income5% higher than other cities
Home value7% pricier than other cities
Median rent32% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Powers 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 Powers near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Powers ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Powers only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#691 of 718
4th percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#612 of 721
15th percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#215 of 727
70th percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#613 of 727
15th 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
5th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Powers's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$92,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 93% 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
Powers's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,636 of 15,516
More affordable than 70% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,110 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.6×, Powers sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,636 of 15,516 and #4,110 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
$35,417Powers, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Powers, 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 Powers, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)9.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)30.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
370
Median Income
$35,417
Median Home Value
$92,900
Median Age
64.1
Poverty Rate
13.0%
Labor force participation
30.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
9.8%
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
Powers's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
380 residents
2021
379 residents
2022
380 residents
2023
378 residents
2024
377 residents
2025
375 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
24.0 minutes
Drive Alone
62.6%
Carpool
32.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
5.1%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 99 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 Powers. 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 Powers 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 Powers sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Powers 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, 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.