Allendale, Michigan

Area Profile

26,679 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Allendale, in Ottawa County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signals: opportunity, growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
SchoolsTop 12% of 2,668 published cities82
Housing affordabilityTop 48% of 4,223 published cities82
Climate3025th of 4,223 published cities63
Physical resilienceTop 4% of 4,182 published cities95
Access2390th of 4,226 published cities90
Economic stability2751st of 4,226 published cities52
The quick read

Rent takes 19% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 4.4 times that income.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Allendale in the top 4% for physical resilience.

A typical July reaches 82°F and a typical January falls to 20°F, on thirty-year normals.

At a glance

Population
26,679
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$70,150
Top 46% nationally
Density
1,148/sq mi
23.2 sq mi of land
Median age
21.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Ottawa County
Michigan
Metro area
Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI
Nearest major airport
GRR
22 mi · Gerald R Ford Intl
Median home value
$307,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

43% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 83% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$5,141$70,150Top 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,595$27,090Bottom 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate29.8%Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute22.2 minBottom 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher42.6%Top 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Labor force participation71.1%Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$60,660Bottom 16%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$47,570Bottom 20%2025 OEWS
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202470k61k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $70,150 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators19,540$39,120
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand18,840$36,130
Registered Nurses13,740$83,920
Fast Food and Counter Workers13,190$28,240
Retail Salespersons12,600$34,800
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners11,490$35,890

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

51% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 65% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.3 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.3
across all schools here
Math proficiency
50.9%
Top 14% in Michigan
Reading proficiency
65.2%
Top 16% in Michigan
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Allendale High SchoolAllendale Public Schools73720.5
Evergreen ElementaryAllendale Public Schools57315.557%62%
Allendale Middle SchoolAllendale Public Schools56416.647%72%
Oakwood IntermediateAllendale Public Schools34714.547%59%
Allendale Early Childhood CenterAllendale Public Schools27912.7
Ottawa Area CenterOttawa Area ISD873.1

26.5% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Michigan’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,111 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.4 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
19.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.4×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,111
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$307,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.39Top 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate52.8%Bottom 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±5028,443Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$274$1,111Top 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$18,743$307,900Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.0%Top 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate4.5%Bottom 26%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 20°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 34.8 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station HOLLAND TULIP CITY AP, 18.0 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation34.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low20°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing46°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

95 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are strong wind, cold wave and heat wave.

Strong windModerate
LightningModerate
Cold waveModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: inland flooding, tornado, hail, winter weather, ice storm, earthquake, landslide, coastal flooding, wildfire, hurricane.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Ottawa County records 2.2 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 7.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 4.9 per 100,000 residents in Ottawa County.

Homicide
2.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
7.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
4.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
10.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Ottawa County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Allendale rather than Allendale itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 22 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Gerald R Ford IntlGRR22 mi10,001 ft
Battle Creek Exec At Kellogg FldBTL59 mi10,004 ft
Capital Region IntlLAN70 mi8,506 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Other cities in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
Grand RapidsKent County198,53561vs Allendale
WyomingKent County77,35364vs Allendale
KentwoodKent County54,29664vs Allendale
Forest HillsKent County28,695vs Allendale
WalkerKent County25,38669vs Allendale
CutlervilleKent County18,780vs Allendale
JenisonOttawa County17,582vs Allendale
GrandvilleKent County16,35666vs Allendale
NorthviewKent County15,268vs Allendale
IoniaIonia County12,753vs Allendale
East Grand RapidsKent County11,445vs Allendale
Grand HavenOttawa County10,99666vs Allendale

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Allendale

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
4940129,674$74,880