AreaProfile

49546Forest Hills, Michigan

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 49546.

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 21% of 4,422 published ZIP areas74
Housing affordabilityTop 39% of 6,685 published ZIP areas86
Climate5237th of 6,789 published ZIP areas62
Physical resilienceTop 5% of 6,709 published ZIP areas94
AccessTop 15% of 6,791 published ZIP areas99
Economic stabilityTop 33% of 6,742 published ZIP areas69
The quick read

In the public schools here, 60% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 17.1 students for every teacher.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published ZIP profiles, placing 49546 in the top 5% for physical resilience.

A major airport is 4 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
34,721
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$99,343
Top 19% nationally
Density
1,943/sq mi
17.9 sq mi of land
Median age
39.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Forest Hills
Michigan
Metro area
Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI
Nearest major airport
GRR
4 mi · Gerald R Ford Intl
Median home value
$417,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

61% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 93% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$6,387$99,343Top 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,023$54,423Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate8.2%Bottom 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.9 minBottom 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher60.7%Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Labor force participation64.0%Top 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$60,660Bottom 21%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$47,570Bottom 24%2025 OEWS
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202499k84k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $99,343 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.

60% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 58% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 17.1 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
7
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
60.2%
Top 8% in Michigan
Reading proficiency
58.4%
Top 26% in Michigan
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Central High SchoolForest Hills Public Schools99918.2
Ridge Park Charter Academy · charterRidge Park Charter Academy50715.834%39%
Pine Ridge Elementary SchoolForest Hills Public Schools47218.274%72%
Meadow Brook Elementary SchoolForest Hills Public Schools43114.964%55%
Thornapple Elementary SchoolForest Hills Public Schools36116.469%66%
Collins Elementary SchoolForest Hills Public Schools35618.766%65%
Ridgemoor Park MontessoriGrand Rapids Public Schools13118.7

28.4% 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 $1,408 takes 17% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.2 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
17.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,408
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$417,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.21Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate68.7%Bottom 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±46613,561Top 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$59$1,408Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$18,297$417,900Top 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income17.0%Bottom 45%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate3.5%Bottom 15%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 83°F and January a low of 19°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 39.4 inches, including 77.6 inches of snow.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station GRAND RAPIDS, 2.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation39.4"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall77.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low19°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high83°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing48°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

94 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado and strong wind.

Strong windModerate
TornadoModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, heat wave, inland flooding, cold wave, ice storm, landslide, earthquake, hail, lightning, wildfire, hurricane.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

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.

Crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source 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. Reported crime is also easy to misread: agency participation varies year to year, and a city that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate.
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

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

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Gerald R Ford IntlGRR4 mi10,001 ft
Battle Creek Exec At Kellogg FldBTL46 mi10,004 ft
Capital Region IntlLAN49 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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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)
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.

49546 vs Forest Hills

How this ZIP area compares with Forest Hills as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

49546
Forest Hills
Median household income
$99,343
vs
$158,005
Per capita income
$54,423
vs
$78,986
Population density
1,943/sq mi
vs
582/sq mi
Median home value
$417,900
vs
$498,500
Median gross rent
$1,408
vs
$1,958
Homeownership rate
68.7%
vs
94.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher
60.7%
vs
70.9%
Poverty rate
8.2%
vs
3.0%
Median age
39.3
vs
42.3

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.