49203Jackson, Michigan

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 49203.

56out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 37% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity6168th of 6,210 published ZIP areas12
Schools2414th of 4,422 published ZIP areas48
GrowthTop 47% of 5,428 published ZIP areas52
Housing affordabilityTop 29% of 6,685 published ZIP areas91
Climate5484th of 6,789 published ZIP areas61
Physical resilienceTop 10% of 6,709 published ZIP areas89
Access5292nd of 6,791 published ZIP areas81
Economic stability5242nd of 6,742 published ZIP areas42
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 9.3% and the Opportunity signal places 49203 in the bottom 1%.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 181 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 110% on the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published ZIP profiles, placing 49203 in the top 10% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
36,474
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$56,201
Bottom 23% nationally
Density
1,378/sq mi
26.5 sq mi of land
Median age
39.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Jackson
Michigan
Metro area
Jackson, MI
Nearest major airport
LAN
40 mi · Capital Region Intl
Median home value
$159,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 9.3% is lower than 1% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 6.7% over the past year, to 12,475 employed residents.

Median household income of $56,201 is below 77% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,746$56,201Bottom 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,736$32,080Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate14.2%Top 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute19.7 minBottom 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher22.4%Bottom 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment12,475Bottom 5%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-9.6%Bottom 1%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-6.7%Bottom 1%June 2026
Labor force13,750Bottom 6%June 2026
Labor force participation57.8%Bottom 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$61,270Bottom 25%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$47,760Bottom 25%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-1.2%Bottom 6%June 2026
Unemployment rate9.3%Top 1%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202456k50k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $56,201 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 — Jackson, MI
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides1,700$34,180
Cashiers1,690$29,370
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators1,630$40,700
Retail Salespersons1,210$34,770
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,140$27,390
Stockers and Order Fillers1,000$34,560

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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Jackson, MI, the city containing this ZIP code.

22% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 38% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 11.6 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
11
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
11.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
21.9%
Bottom 36% in Michigan
Reading proficiency
38.4%
Bottom 39% in Michigan
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Middle School at ParksideJackson Public Schools75015.017%47%
Cascades Elementary SchoolJackson Public Schools39814.28%9%
Sharp Park AcademyJackson Public Schools33717.740%45%
Townsend Elementary SchoolVandercook Lake Public Schools31618.618%32%
Dibble Elementary SchoolJackson Public Schools28217.625%28%
Vandercook Lake High SchoolVandercook Lake Public Schools25813.610%50%
Jackson ISD Local Based Special Education ProgramsJackson ISD2403.050%60%
John R Lewis ElementaryJackson Public Schools14014.0
Woodville Community CenterWestern School District9719.4
Fourth Street Learning CenterJackson Public Schools279.0
Local Based Special Education Early Childhood ProgramsJackson ISD0

77.3% 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 $1,019 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.8 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
21.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,019
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$159,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.83Bottom 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate66.9%Bottom 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±58117,139Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$47$1,019Top 50%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$6,391$159,100Bottom 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.8%Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.8%Bottom 41%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 →
Development Momentum
52/ 100
Top 47% of 5,428 published city profiles

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.

At 5.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
181
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
5.8
Top 26% nationally
Year over year
+110%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
58.6%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Jackson, MI, the city containing this ZIP code.

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 18°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 32.2 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station JACKSON REYNOLDS FLD, 4.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation32.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low18°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high83°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing47°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

89 / 100
Physical resilience

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

TornadoHigh
Strong windElevated
HailModerate
Heat waveModerate

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

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.

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.

Jackson County records 4.1 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 17.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 20.1 per 100,000 residents in Jackson County.

Homicide
4.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
17.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
20.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
17.6
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 Jackson 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 49203 rather than 49203 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

6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 40 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Capital Region IntlLAN40 mi8,506 ft
Battle Creek Exec At Kellogg FldBTL44 mi10,004 ft
Eugene F Kranz Toledo ExpressTOL53 mi10,600 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
56
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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
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
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.

49203 vs Jackson

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

49203
Jackson
Median household income
$56,201
vs
$44,558
Per capita income
$32,080
vs
$25,996
Population density
1,378/sq mi
vs
2,883/sq mi
Median home value
$159,100
vs
$103,200
Median gross rent
$1,019
vs
$898
Homeownership rate
66.9%
vs
54.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher
22.4%
vs
16.1%
Poverty rate
14.2%
vs
24.6%
Median age
39.0
vs
35.3

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.