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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-SAULT-STE-MARIE-MI · Sault Ste. Marie, MI 13,373 pop · income 27th pct · 17 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 Sault Ste. Marie
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sault Ste. Marie on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Escanaba · lowest
40,169
Escanaba · lowest
40,169 median HH income
23.1% of the leader · rank #1
Coral · near
55,025
Coral · near
55,025 median HH income
31.7% of the leader · rank #2
Sault Ste. Ma… · this city
55,031
Sault Ste. Ma… · this city
55,031 median HH income
31.7% of the leader · rank #3
Sunrise Manor · near
55,034
Sunrise Manor · near
55,034 median HH income
31.7% of the leader · rank #4
Chickasha · near
55,039
Chickasha · near
55,039 median HH income
31.7% of the leader · rank #5
Rice Lake · near
55,040
Rice Lake · near
55,040 median HH income
31.7% of the leader · rank #6
Salisbury · highest
173,808
Salisbury · highest
173,808 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 Sault Ste. Marie 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: 13,373.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Sault Ste. Marie - the verdict
Sault Ste. Marie ranks in the 27th percentile for household income and the 46th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
27th
percentile, household income
20th
percentile, home value
32nd
percentile, median rent
46th
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: Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 13,373 residents in Sault Ste. Marie, a small town within Michigan. Median household income here is $55,031 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 10.9%. Home values in Sault Ste. Marie run a median of $127,300, and the median resident age is 34.9 years. Educational attainment runs 24.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 59.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 4 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 94% from five years earlier. Sault Ste. Marie reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 1510.1 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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,113 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $238 across Michigan, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Workers in Sault Ste. Marie report an average commute of 13.6 minutes, with 74.3% driving alone and 5.0% working from home. 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 Sault Ste. Marie'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 comparison shortlist to housing and income to reported crime to within-city variation 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 Sault Ste. Marie, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Sault Ste. Marie?
Within Michigan, the closest population matches are Ionia (12,950 residents, $60,729 income); Rochester (12,939 residents, $104,920 income); Coldwater (13,847 residents, $50,084 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Chino Valley, AZ (13,372 residents); Blue Ash, OH (13,374 residents); Pottsville, PA (13,374 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Sault Ste. Marie?
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 10.9%, 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Sault Ste. Marie?
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 1510.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 34% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
What can 17 Census tracts reveal inside Sault Ste. Marie?
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.
PlainCities matches 17 Census tracts to this city.
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 Sault Ste. Marie growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -274 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 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
-2.1%
2025 estimate
13,083
2020 estimate
13,357
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Sault Ste. Marie?
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 74.3%. The reported mean trip to work is 13.6 minutes.
Public transit
0.8%
Work from home
5.0%
Drive alone
74.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 6,666 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 10.9% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.2 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
F
City profile score · Sault Ste. Marie, MI
37/100
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 D
24.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
10.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$55,031
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
406 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Sault Ste. Marie profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 46/100 (D) · 24.1%
Poverty rate: 36/100 (F) · 10.9%
Household income: 27/100 (F) · $55,031
Violent crime: 22/100 (F) · 406 /100k
Where Sault Ste. Marie sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Sault Ste. Marie'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 - Sault Ste. Marie highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Sault Ste. Marie, MI (this city): home $127,300, crime 1,510/100k
Chino Valley, AZ : home $352,100, crime 548/100k
Blue Ash, OH : home $365,700, crime 1,976/100k
Pottsville, PA : home $97,700, crime 1,677/100k
Moody, AL : home $222,500, crime 1,013/100k
Ionia, MI : home $161,100, crime 740/100k
Rochester, MI : home $450,800, crime 401/100k
Coldwater, MI : home $120,900, crime 1,581/100k
Woodhaven, MI : home $221,200, crime 1,655/100k
Melvindale, MI : home $113,100, crime 1,467/100k
Escanaba, MI : home $116,600, crime 2,354/100k
How does Sault Ste. Marie compare to other US cities?
Where Sault Ste. Marie sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income27% higher than other cities
Home value20% pricier than other cities
Median rent32% pricier than other cities
Safety46% 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: Sault Ste. Marie ranks #157 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 Sault Ste. Marie 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 Sault Ste. Marie near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sault Ste. Marie ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sault Ste. Marie only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#442 of 718
38th percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#431 of 721
40th percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#275 of 727
62nd percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#279 of 727
61st 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
27th percentile nationally for median household income · 46th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Sault Ste. Marie's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Sault Ste. Marie'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 Sault Ste. Marie's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$127,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 80% 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
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,025 of 15,516
More affordable than 81% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#216 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.3×, Sault Ste. Marie sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,025 of 15,516 and #216 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$55,031Sault Ste. Marie, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sault Ste. Marie, 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 Sault Ste. Marie, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
13,373
Median Income
$55,031
Median Home Value
$127,300
Median Age
34.9
Poverty Rate
10.9%
Labor force participation
59.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1510.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
405.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1104.4
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.
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Sault Ste. Marie's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
13,357 residents
2021
13,351 residents
2022
13,302 residents
2023
13,332 residents
2024
13,235 residents
2025
13,083 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
67
0
67
$10.3M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
3
3
0
$0.7M
2022
2
2
0
$0.2M
2023
40
2
38
$8.8M
2024
4
4
0
$0.5M
Permit volume decreased 94% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
13.6 minutes
Drive Alone
74.3%
Carpool
8.0%
Public Transit
0.8%
Walk
6.7%
Work from Home
5.0%
Other
5.2%
Based on 6,666 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 Sault Ste. Marie. 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 Sault Ste. Marie 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 Sault Ste. Marie sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sault Ste. Marie 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, 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.