49009Kalamazoo, Michigan

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 49009.

57out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 40% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity5661st of 6,210 published ZIP areas30
SchoolsTop 37% of 4,422 published ZIP areas62
Growth5388th of 5,428 published ZIP areas7
Housing affordabilityTop 41% of 6,685 published ZIP areas86
Climate5389th of 6,789 published ZIP areas62
Physical resilienceTop 8% of 6,709 published ZIP areas92
Access4097th of 6,791 published ZIP areas90
Economic stability3428th of 6,742 published ZIP areas59
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 5.5% and the Opportunity signal places 49009 in the bottom 9%.

Residential permitting has slowed: 0 units authorized over the past twelve months, 100% below the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published ZIP profiles, placing 49009 in the top 8% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
47,971
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$80,930
Top 37% nationally
Density
469/sq mi
102.2 sq mi of land
Median age
35.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Kalamazoo
Michigan
Metro area
Kalamazoo-Portage, MI
Nearest major airport
BTL
23 mi · Battle Creek Exec At Kellogg Fld
Median home value
$346,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.5% is lower than 14% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 7.5% over the past year, to 34,599 employed residents.

49% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 87% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$6,240$80,930Top 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,061$48,560Top 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate11.6%Top 45%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute22.8 minBottom 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher49.0%Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment34,599Bottom 36%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-7.7%Bottom 1%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-7.5%Bottom 1%June 2026
Labor force36,603Bottom 36%June 2026
Labor force participation64.7%Top 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$62,850Bottom 30%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$48,510Bottom 30%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.8%Bottom 10%June 2026
Unemployment rate5.5%Top 14%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202482k74k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $80,930 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 — Kalamazoo-Portage, MI
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Registered Nurses3,300$88,200
Fast Food and Counter Workers3,200$28,790
Retail Salespersons3,130$33,660
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators3,090$38,880
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand3,030$44,350
Home Health and Personal Care Aides2,970$35,270

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 Kalamazoo, MI, the city containing this ZIP code.

41% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 56% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 17.7 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
4
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
41.1%
Top 30% in Michigan
Reading proficiency
56.1%
Top 30% in Michigan
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Prairie Ridge Elementary SchoolKalamazoo Public Schools44918.7
Cooper Elementary SchoolPlainwell Community Schools28816.935%48%
Alamo Elementary SchoolOtsego Public Schools28716.948%65%
Boys To Men Group HomeKalamazoo Public Schools0

43.2% 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 $1,137 takes 17% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.3 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
16.9%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,137
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$346,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.28Top 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate64.4%Bottom 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±71220,449Top 3%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$54$1,137Top 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$14,617$346,600Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income16.9%Bottom 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.9%Bottom 27%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
7/ 100
Ranks 5388 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 0.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
0
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.0
Bottom 1% nationally
Year over year
−100%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Kalamazoo, 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 33.2 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 45, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station KALAMAZOO BATTLE CK INTL AP, 8.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index63.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation33.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low18°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high83°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index45.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing48°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
45
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
63
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

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. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

92 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HailElevated
TornadoElevated
Strong windElevated
Heat waveModerate

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

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.

Kalamazoo County records 6.1 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 12.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 10.7 per 100,000 residents in Kalamazoo County.

Homicide
6.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
10.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
16.8
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 Kalamazoo 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 49009 rather than 49009 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 23 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Battle Creek Exec At Kellogg FldBTL23 mi10,004 ft
Gerald R Ford IntlGRR41 mi10,001 ft
South Bend IntlSBN52 mi8,412 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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57
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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
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

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.

49009 vs Kalamazoo

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

49009
Kalamazoo
Median household income
$80,930
vs
$52,272
Per capita income
$48,560
vs
$29,341
Population density
469/sq mi
vs
2,966/sq mi
Median home value
$346,600
vs
$179,000
Median gross rent
$1,137
vs
$1,078
Homeownership rate
64.4%
vs
42.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher
49.0%
vs
38.5%
Poverty rate
11.6%
vs
24.9%
Median age
35.7
vs
26.9

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.