Niles, Michigan

Area Profile

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

55out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 29% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3854th of 3,904 published cities20
Schools1354th of 2,668 published cities51
Growth2841st of 2,973 published cities15
Housing affordabilityTop 18% of 4,223 published cities95
Climate3496th of 4,223 published cities61
Physical resilienceTop 15% of 4,182 published cities86
AccessTop 14% of 4,226 published cities99
Economic stability3140th of 4,226 published cities46
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 4.9% and the Opportunity signal places Niles in the bottom 1%.

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

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Niles in the top 15% for physical resilience.

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
Berrien County
Michigan
Metro area
Niles, MI
Nearest major airport
SBN
9 mi · South Bend Intl
Median home value
$135,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.9% is lower than 28% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 7.1% over the past year, to 68,412 employed residents.

Median household income of $51,376 is below 75% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,316$51,376Bottom 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,228$27,036Bottom 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate17.8%Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.9 minBottom 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher17.0%Bottom 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment68,412Top 44%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-7.7%Bottom 1%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-7.1%Bottom 1%June 2026
Labor force71,904Top 44%June 2026
Labor force participation62.6%Top 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$58,170Bottom 9%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$45,980Bottom 9%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.8%Bottom 10%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.9%Top 28%June 2026
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
Registered Nurses1,330
Stockers and Order Fillers1,200$34,750

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.

35% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 46% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

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

Public schools
15
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
18.3
across all schools here
Math proficiency
35.4%
Top 38% in Michigan
Reading proficiency
46.1%
Top 48% in Michigan
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Niles Senior High SchoolNiles Community Schools82820.7
HowardEllis Elementary SchoolNiles Community Schools52919.636%39%
Ballard Elementary SchoolNiles Community Schools51619.134%32%
Ring Lardner Middle SchoolNiles Community Schools51017.632%62%
Eastside Connections SchoolNiles Community Schools40319.250%55%
Brandywine Elementary SchoolBrandywine Community Schools37917.229%37%
Brandywine Senior High SchoolBrandywine Community Schools36615.9
Merritt Elementary SchoolBrandywine Community Schools30414.5
Brandywine Middle SchoolBrandywine Community Schools18318.327%62%
Niles Cedar LaneNiles Community Schools13426.8
WAY NilesNiles Community Schools95
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 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 $855 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.6 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
20.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$855
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$135,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.63Bottom 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate63.2%Bottom 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3055,431Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$34$855Bottom 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$11,550$135,100Bottom 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income20.0%Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.6%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
15/ 100
Ranks 2841 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2022 to 2025.

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, reaching 11,738 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are 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 11% 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.
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 index58.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation39.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall64.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low17°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high83°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10022024 calendar year
Median air quality index41.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing48°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. 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

86 / 100
Physical resilience

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

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.

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.

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.

Berrien County records 3.4 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 9.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 20.4 per 100,000 residents in Berrien County.

Homicide
3.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
9.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
20.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
15.1
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 Berrien 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 Niles rather than Niles 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

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 9 miles away.

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
55
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Put Niles side by side with a similar place.

Niles vs AustintownNiles vs OwossoNiles vs Bay CityNiles vs Bucyrus

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.

ZIP codes in Niles

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
4912036,495$65,14856