Monroe County, MI

County Profile

155,505 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Monroe County, MI.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

53out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 29% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
Opportunity1,326th of 1,463 counties measured30
Schools797th of 1,377 counties measured44
Growth1,261st of 1,453 counties measured29
Housing affordability828th of 1,462 counties measured72
Climate965th of 1,463 counties measured63
Physical resilienceTop 29% of 1,463 counties measured74
AccessTop 22% of 1,463 counties measured92
Economic stabilityTop 42% of 1,463 counties measured66
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable counties measured: unemployment is 5.1% and the Opportunity signal places Monroe County in the bottom 9%.

In the public schools here, 40% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 18.0 students for every teacher.

201 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 6% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
155,505
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$77,335
Top 22% nationally
Density
283/sq mi
549.4 sq mi of land
Median age
42.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Monroe County
Michigan
Metro area
Nearest major airport
DTW
22 mi · Detroit Metro Wayne County
Median home value
$228,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.1% — higher than in all but 19% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment fell 6.0% over the past year, to 68,676 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$59,89553rd percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$61,49360th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$2,2932024 ACS 5-Year$77,335Top 22%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,1252024 ACS 5-Year$40,470Top 24%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$59,816Top 38%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year10.5%Top 30%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.6 min2024 ACS 5-Year28.2 minBottom 33%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year23.3%Top 46%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year81.5%78th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202668,676Top 31%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026−8.5%Bottom 1%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−6.0%Bottom 2%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202672,35769th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year75.4%Bottom 48%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.1%2024 ACS 5-Year0.2%50th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−0.9%Top 13%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20265.1%Bottom 19%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±1.0%2024 ACS 5-Year8.8%53rd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/077.73.4
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.1% in July 2026. It has been rising, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202477k68k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $77,335 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 — Monroe, MI

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,330$27,950
Retail Salespersons1,250$34,620
Cashiers1,220$29,320
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators1,110$36,870
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers1,090$54,510
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand950$39,520

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

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.

40% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 52% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 18.0 students for every full-time teacher across 45 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
50
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
18.0
across 45 of them
Math proficiency
40.2%
Top 47% in Michigan
Reading proficiency
51.7%
Top 47% in Michigan
The 12 largest of 50 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Monroe High SchoolMonroe Public Schools1,33221.124%45%
Bedford Senior High SchoolBedford Public Schools1,26017.548%64%
Bedford Junior High SchoolBedford Public Schools92318.545%50%
Triumph Academy · charterTriumph Academy77721.644%51%
Custer Elementary SchoolMonroe Public Schools76916.716%27%
Airport Senior High SchoolAirport Community Schools76017.327%57%
Dundee Elementary SchoolDundee Community Schools68517.659%58%
Monroe Middle SchoolMonroe Public Schools67418.724%42%
Wagar Junior High SchoolAirport Community Schools64118.945%57%
Monroe Road Elementary SchoolBedford Public Schools59518.644%61%
Jackman Road Elementary SchoolBedford Public Schools58018.148%53%
Douglas Road Elementary SchoolBedford Public Schools55317.351%67%

41.2% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Michigan’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 7% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 93.3, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Monroe, MI Metro Area is up 36% over five years, and up 2.1% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $2,648 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.16% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,326, some 25% above the $1,059 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,326 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $53,000 a year, about 69% of the median household income here of $77,335.

The typical renter household here spends 30% of its income on rent, at the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,059 a month.

A median home at $228,900 costs 2.6 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $87,500, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
93.3

Prices here run about 7% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Monroe, MI Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
30.3%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.6×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,326
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,059
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$228,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Monroe County’s median household income of $77,335, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living indexthe Monroe, MI Metro Area’s figure202393.3Top 45%of 8872023
Home price change (1 year)the Monroe, MI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+2.1%23rd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Monroe, MI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+36.1%19th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Monroe, MI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+82.4%32nd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year2.6Bottom 44%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year81.7%88th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±792024 ACS 5-Year66,59486th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,011Bottom 43%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,605Bottom 45%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,326Bottom 35%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$432024 ACS 5-Year$1,059Bottom 26%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$4,7502024 ACS 5-Year$228,90066th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$512024 ACS 5-Year$2,64880th percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$3,3572024 ACS 5-Year$87,500Top 28%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.03%2024 ACS 5-Year1.16%75th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year30.3%Bottom 26%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±1352024 ACS 5-Year29545th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.4%10th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year4.9%15th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±4942024 ACS 5-Year3,56571st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

29/ 100
Ranks 1,261 of 1,453 published county profiles
The most recent move in permitting was downward, in a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 1% since 2020, reaching 156,045 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before: 188 units authorized in 2025, 29% below the prior year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 201 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Monroe County in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $59,895, close to the $61,493 of households that moved out.

At 1.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
201
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.3
Bottom 23% nationally
Year over year
−6%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

20202021202220232024156k155k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population. It has been holding roughly steady, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+0.1%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
43%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$59,895
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$61,493
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Wayne County, MI 1,948 people · 33% of arrivals
  2. Lucas County, OH 1,115 people · 19% of arrivals
  3. Washtenaw County, MI 460 people · 7.7% of arrivals
  4. Lenawee County, MI 291 people · 4.9% of arrivals
  5. Oakland County, MI 151 people · 2.5% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Wayne County, MI 1,541 people · 27% of departures
  2. Lucas County, OH 1,071 people · 18% of departures
  3. Washtenaw County, MI 392 people · 6.8% of departures
  4. Lenawee County, MI 317 people · 5.5% of departures
  5. Oakland County, MI 165 people · 2.8% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

2022202320242025264188
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−28%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 86°F and January a low of 20°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 30.2 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station DETROIT WILLOW RUN AP, 22.0 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND3.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals30.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals20°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals86°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals48°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

74 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and cold wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 62% of it. Cold wave is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 71% of measured US counties.

Strong windElevated
TornadoElevated
Inland floodingModerate
Ice stormModerate
HailModerate
Winter weatherModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, earthquake, lightning, coastal flooding, hurricane, wildfire, landslide, drought, volcanic activity, tsunami, avalanche.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Monroe County has a modeled homicide rate of about 2.8 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 13.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 20.6 per 100,000 residents in Monroe County.

Homicide
2.8
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.5
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
20.6
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
15.5
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Monroe County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Detroit Metro Wayne County at 22 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year89.2%Top 32%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle22 miTop 28%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle6Top 13%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±0.8%2024 ACS 5-Year8.6%Top 36%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Detroit Metro Wayne CountyDTW22 mi12,003 ft
Eugene F Kranz Toledo ExpressTOL28 mi10,600 ft
Capital Region IntlLAN82 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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Area Score
53
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
Housing, IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.

Cities in Monroe County, MI

ZIP areas

Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.