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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-WALLED-LAKE-MI · Walled Lake, MI 7,275 pop · income 46th 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 Walled Lake
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Walled Lake on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
River Rouge · lowest
32,568
River Rouge · lowest
32,568 median HH income
13.0% of the leader · rank #1
Fort Green · near
67,321
Fort Green · near
67,321 median HH income
26.9% of the leader · rank #2
Walled Lake · this city
67,335
Walled Lake · this city
67,335 median HH income
26.9% of the leader · rank #3
Catlin · near
67,344
Catlin · near
67,344 median HH income
26.9% of the leader · rank #4
Colton · near
67,344
Colton · near
67,344 median HH income
26.9% of the leader · rank #5
Foley · near
67,346
Foley · near
67,346 median HH income
26.9% of the leader · rank #6
Rumson · highest
250,001
Rumson · highest
250,001 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 Walled Lake 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: 7,275.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Walled Lake - the verdict
Walled Lake ranks in the 46th percentile for household income and the 66th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
46th
percentile, household income
46th
percentile, home value
32nd
percentile, median rent
66th
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: Walled Lake, MI
Walled Lake is a small town in Michigan, home to 7,275 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Walled Lake households earn a median of $67,335 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.7%. Typical homes in Walled Lake are valued around $213,000, and the median resident age is 40.7 years. Educational attainment runs 31.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 69.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 19 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 1800% from five years earlier. Walled Lake reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 942.5 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. 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. 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 Walled Lake'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 work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households to comparison shortlist to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Walled Lake, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Walled Lake?
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 942.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 59% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
What does the journey to work look like in Walled Lake?
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 79.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Walled Lake?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.7%, 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. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Walled Lake?
Within Michigan, the closest population matches are Shields (7,276 residents, $83,986 income); River Rouge (7,092 residents, $32,568 income); Iron Mountain (7,508 residents, $56,622 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are West Samoset, FL (7,273 residents); St. Rose, LA (7,271 residents); East Shoreham, NY (7,279 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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Walled Lake?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 31.9% 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.
Matched public schools
2
Bachelor's degree+
31.9%
Poverty estimate
7.7%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Walled Lake 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 +104 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 19 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
+1.4%
2025 estimate
7,320
2020 estimate
7,216
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 7.7% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.2 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
C-
City profile score · Walled Lake, MI
54/100
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.
Violent crime C+
137 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C+
31.9%
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.
Poverty rate D
7.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income D
$67,335
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Walled Lake profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 62/100 (C+) · 137 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 61/100 (C+) · 31.9%
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Poverty rate: 49/100 (D) · 7.7%
Household income: 45/100 (D) · $67,335
Where Walled Lake sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Walled Lake'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 - Walled Lake highlighted among 24 peers.Read the chart values
Walled Lake, MI (this city): home $213,000, crime 943/100k
Flatwoods, KY : home $112,200, crime 264/100k
Rumson, NJ : home $1,609,400, crime 393/100k
Hastings, MI : home $159,000, crime 1,585/100k
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 Walled Lake compare to other US cities?
Walled Lake measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income46% higher than other cities
Home value46% pricier than other cities
Median rent32% pricier than other cities
Safety66% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Michigan, Walled Lake ranks #97 of 254 Michigan cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Walled Lake 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 Walled Lake near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Walled Lake ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Walled Lake only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#256 of 718
64th percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#192 of 721
73rd percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#374 of 727
48th percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#181 of 727
75th 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
46th percentile nationally for median household income · 66th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Walled Lake's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Walled Lake'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 Walled Lake's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$213,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 54% 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
Walled Lake's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,506 of 15,516
More affordable than 52% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,215 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.2×, Walled Lake sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,506 of 15,516 and #6,215 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$67,335Walled Lake, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Walled Lake, 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 Walled Lake, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)31.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)69.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,275
Median Income
$67,335
Median Home Value
$213,000
Median Age
40.7
Poverty Rate
7.7%
Labor force participation
69.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
31.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
942.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
136.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
805.9
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
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Walled Lake's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,216 residents
2021
7,218 residents
2022
7,305 residents
2023
7,283 residents
2024
7,322 residents
2025
7,320 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
19
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
19
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.7M
2020
29
29
0
$7.6M
2021
70
13
57
$8.0M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
12
0
12
$1.1M
2024
19
0
19
$2.5M
Permit volume increased 1800% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.9%
Carpool
7.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
11.7%
Other
0.9%
Based on 4,187 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 Walled Lake. 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 Walled Lake 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 Walled Lake sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Walled Lake 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.