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Place dossier plate
SheetMI-YPSILANTI-MI · Ypsilanti, MI 19,937 pop · income 12th 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 Ypsilanti
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ypsilanti on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Adrian · lowest
42,851
Adrian · lowest
42,851 median HH income
33.2% of the leader · rank #1
West Harrison · near
44,125
West Harrison · near
44,125 median HH income
34.2% of the leader · rank #2
Sharon · near
44,125
Sharon · near
44,125 median HH income
34.2% of the leader · rank #3
Hattiesburg · near
44,140
Hattiesburg · near
44,140 median HH income
34.2% of the leader · rank #4
Ypsilanti · this city
44,141
Ypsilanti · this city
44,141 median HH income
34.2% of the leader · rank #5
Long View · near
44,156
Long View · near
44,156 median HH income
34.2% of the leader · rank #6
Mokena · highest
129,017
Mokena · highest
129,017 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 Ypsilanti 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: 19,937.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Ypsilanti - the verdict
Nationally, Ypsilanti sits in the 12th percentile for household income and the 15th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
12th
percentile, household income
49th
percentile, home value
32nd
percentile, median rent
15th
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: Ypsilanti, MI
Ypsilanti is a small town in Michigan, home to 19,937 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Ypsilanti brings in $44,141 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 19.7%. Ypsilanti's housing stock carries a median value of $223,700, and the median resident age is 27.0 years. Educational attainment runs 45.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 59.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 230 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 5650% from five years earlier. Ypsilanti's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 3033.5 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. Workers in Ypsilanti report an average commute of 19.1 minutes, with 58.8% driving alone and 15.2% working from home. 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 Ypsilanti'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 population change to reported crime to schools and households to housing and income to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Ypsilanti, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history, 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. Population change
Is Ypsilanti 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 -811 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 230 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Ypsilanti?
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 3033.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 33% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
What does the education layer cover for Ypsilanti?
The NCES join finds 12 public schools within the city match. 45.8% 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.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Ypsilanti?
Within Michigan, the closest population matches are Monroe (20,330 residents, $59,532 income); Cutlerville (19,465 residents, $65,833 income); Adrian (20,493 residents, $42,851 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are La Crescenta-Montrose, CA (19,940 residents); Claremore, OK (19,921 residents); Lincolnia, VA (19,913 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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Ypsilanti?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 19.7%, 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.
Household income
$44,141
Home value
$223,700
Value / income
5.1×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Ypsilanti?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 58.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 19.1 minutes.
Public transit
7.8%
Work from home
15.2%
Drive alone
58.8%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 9,911 workers age 16+.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Michigan average
F
City profile score · Ypsilanti, MI
31/100
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 A-
45.8%
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 F
19.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$44,141
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
657 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Ypsilanti profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 80/100 (A-) · 45.8%
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.2 index
Poverty rate: 14/100 (F) · 19.7%
Household income: 12/100 (F) · $44,141
Violent crime: 7/100 (F) · 657 /100k
Where Ypsilanti sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Ypsilanti'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 - Ypsilanti highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Ypsilanti, MI (this city): home $223,700, crime 3,034/100k
Claremore, OK : home $172,500, crime 1,913/100k
Mokena, IL : home $377,100, crime 821/100k
Sand Springs, OK : home $186,700, crime 3,005/100k
Whitehall, OH : home $138,700, crime 7,009/100k
Adrian, MI : home $119,900, crime 2,968/100k
Marquette, MI : home $254,100, crime 697/100k
Ferndale, MI : home $233,600, crime 1,733/100k
How does Ypsilanti compare to other US cities?
Ypsilanti measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income12% higher than other cities
Home value49% pricier than other cities
Median rent32% pricier than other cities
Safety15% 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, Ypsilanti ranks #226 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 Ypsilanti 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 Ypsilanti near the bottom of Michigan's cities
Among the 727 Michigan cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ypsilanti ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ypsilanti only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#605 of 718
16th percentile in Michigan
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 727
0th percentile in Michigan
Median Home Value
#176 of 721
76th percentile in Michigan
Poverty Rate
#78 of 727
89th percentile in Michigan
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#89 of 727
87th 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
12th percentile nationally for median household income · 15th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Ypsilanti's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Ypsilanti'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 Ypsilanti's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$223,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 51% 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
Ypsilanti's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,015 of 15,516
More affordable than 16% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,648 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.1×, Ypsilanti sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,015 of 15,516 and #2,648 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$44,141Ypsilanti, MI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ypsilanti, 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 Ypsilanti, MI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)45.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)19.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
19,937
Median Income
$44,141
Median Home Value
$223,700
Median Age
27.0
Poverty Rate
19.7%
Labor force participation
59.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
45.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3033.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
657.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2376.3
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
12
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Ypsilanti's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
20,577 residents
2021
19,138 residents
2022
19,725 residents
2023
19,405 residents
2024
19,879 residents
2025
19,766 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
230
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
230
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
11.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
4
4
0
$0.3M
2020
4
0
4
$0.2M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
308
0
308
$319.0M
2024
230
0
230
$238.2M
Permit volume increased 5650% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
19.1 minutes
Drive Alone
58.8%
Carpool
8.8%
Public Transit
7.8%
Walk
7.8%
Work from Home
15.2%
Other
1.6%
Based on 9,911 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 Ypsilanti. 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 Ypsilanti 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 Ypsilanti sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ypsilanti 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.