Niles, Michigan

Area Profile

11,803 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Niles, in Berrien County.

52out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 25% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 15 sources
Opportunity4,143rd of 4,199 cities measured20
Schools2,233rd of 4,162 cities measured47
Growth4,125th of 4,224 cities measured14
Housing affordabilityTop 18% of 4,218 cities measured78
Climate3,494th of 4,225 cities measured61
Physical resilienceTop 15% of 4,226 cities measured86
AccessTop 9% of 4,226 cities measured99
Economic stability3,282nd of 4,226 cities measured41
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable cities measured: unemployment is 4.9% and the Opportunity signal places Niles in the bottom 1%. The unemployment rate is published for Berrien County, MI, which contains Niles, rather than for Niles alone.

In the public schools here, 39% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 18.3 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 2 units authorized over the past twelve months, 95% below the prior year.

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
11,803
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$51,376
Bottom 25% nationally
Density
2,037/sq mi
5.8 sq mi of land
Median age
39.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Michigan
Metro area
Nearest major airport
SBN
9 mi · South Bend Intl
Median home value
$135,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Berrien County, MI, which contains Niles, is 4.9% — higher than in all but 29% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment across Berrien County, MI, which contains Niles, fell 6.7% over the past year, to 68,559 employed residents.

Median household income of $51,376 is lower than in 75% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$4,3162024 ACS 5-Year$51,376Bottom 25%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,2282024 ACS 5-Year$27,036Bottom 26%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year16.8%Bottom 30%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±2.4 min2024 ACS 5-Year23.9 minTop 35%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year17.0%Bottom 40%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year76.4%47th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentBerrien County, MI’s figureJuly 202668,559Top 48%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Berrien County, MI’s figureJuly 2026−8.2%Bottom 1%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Berrien County, MI’s figureJuly 2026−6.7%Bottom 1%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceBerrien County, MI’s figureJuly 202672,12652nd percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year76.8%Bottom 45%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageNiles, MI Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$58,170Bottom 10%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Median annual wageNiles, MI Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$45,980Bottom 9%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±0.6%2024 ACS 5-Year0.4%78th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Berrien County, MI’s figureJuly 2026−0.8%Top 17%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateBerrien County, MI’s figureJuly 20264.9%Bottom 29%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year5.1%37th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202451k41k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $51,376 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 — Niles, MI

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,670$27,740
Cashiers1,610$29,550
Retail Salespersons1,590$34,170
Waiters and Waitresses1,390$38,130
Stockers and Order Fillers1,200$34,750
General and Operations Managers1,100$85,850

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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Berrien County, MI, which contains this city.

39% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 48% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 18.3 students for every full-time teacher across 13 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
15
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
18.3
across 13 of them
Math proficiency
38.7%
Top 44% in Michigan
Reading proficiency
48.2%
Bottom 48% in Michigan
The 12 largest of 15 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Niles Senior High SchoolNiles Community Schools82820.737%62%
HowardEllis Elementary SchoolNiles Community Schools52919.650%43%
Ballard Elementary SchoolNiles Community Schools51619.148%35%
Ring Lardner Middle SchoolNiles Community Schools51017.635%49%
Eastside Connections SchoolNiles Community Schools40319.256%65%
Brandywine Elementary SchoolBrandywine Community Schools37917.231%33%
Brandywine Senior High SchoolBrandywine Community Schools36615.927%57%
Merritt Elementary SchoolBrandywine Community Schools30414.5——
Brandywine Middle SchoolBrandywine Community Schools18318.338%52%
Niles Cedar LaneNiles Community Schools13426.810%10%
WAY NilesNiles Community Schools95—5%25%
Southside Special Educ SchoolNiles Community Schools3712.3——

60.4% 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 10% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 89.7, 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 Niles, MI Metro Area is up 51% over five years, and up 7.6% 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 $1,517 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.12% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,184, some 38% above the $855 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,184 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $47,400 a year, about 92% of the median household income here of $51,376.

The typical renter household here spends 28% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $855 a month.

A median home at $135,100 costs 2.1 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $62,845, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
89.7

Prices here run about 10% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Niles, 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
27.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.1×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,184
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$855
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$135,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Niles’s median household income of $51,376, 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 Niles, MI Metro Area’s figure202389.7Top 6%of 3,7002023
Home price change (1 year)the Niles, MI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+7.6%98th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Niles, MI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+51.1%83rd percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Niles, MI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+102.6%67th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.42024 ACS 5-Year2.1Top 38%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year63.2%25th percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3052024 ACS 5-Year5,43189th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$902Top 15%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,556Top 21%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,184Top 20%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$342024 ACS 5-Year$855Top 36%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$11,5502024 ACS 5-Year$135,10033rd percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1572024 ACS 5-Year$1,51743rd percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$9,0682024 ACS 5-Year$62,845Bottom 27%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.15%2024 ACS 5-Year1.12%59th percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year27.7%Top 47%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±652024 ACS 5-Year5784th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year1.0%62nd percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year6.6%48th percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±1692024 ACS 5-Year41588th percentileof 32,3302024 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

14/ 100
Ranks 4,125 of 4,224 published city profiles
Permitting has been falling for the last 2 years of 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 fallen 2% since 2020, to 11,738 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 2 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

At 0.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
2
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.2
Bottom 8% nationally
Year over year
−95%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202412k12k
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 rising, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

Housing units permitted per year

2022202320242025502.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+850%).

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 17°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 39.2 inches, including 64.5 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 41, in the Good band, and about 2 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station SOUTH BEND MICHIANA RGNL AP, 9.5 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year582024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals39.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals64.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals17°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals83°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year22024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year412024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals48°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
41
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
58
90th percentile index
Days above 100
2
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. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

86 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, cold wave and tornado, with inland flooding alone responsible for 57% of it. Inland flooding 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 85% of measured US cities.

HailModerate
Cold waveModerate
TornadoModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, inland flooding, winter weather, landslide, earthquake, lightning, ice storm, hurricane, wildfire, coastal flooding, drought, volcanic activity, tsunami, avalanche.

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.

Violent crime
351
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
1,370
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Niles's police department reported 351 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, near the middle of places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,370.

Berrien County has a modeled homicide rate of about 3.2 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 11.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 18.4 per 100,000 residents in Berrien County.

Homicide
3.2
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
11.2
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
18.4
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
16.4
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.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Niles’s own police department and shown only where it reported every month of the year; a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime is what police recorded, which is not the same as what happened. 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 the county around Niles (Berrien County) rather than Niles itself. Neither is part of the Area Score. How to read crime rates and 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.

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 South Bend Intl at 9 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year89.4%Bottom 48%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle9 miTop 25%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle6Top 27%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year7.5%Top 50%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
South Bend IntlSBN9 mi8,412 ft
Battle Creek Exec At Kellogg FldBTL61 mi10,004 ft
Gary/Chicago IntlGYY62 mi8,859 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
52
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar year
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
HousingU.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
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWS
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
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
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.

ZIP codes in Niles

1 ZIP area

Every ZIP area in Niles with census figures of its own, largest first.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
4912036,495$65,148$178,40052