Traverse City, Michigan

Area Profile

15,593 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Traverse City, in Grand Traverse County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2519th of 3,904 published cities49
SchoolsTop 32% of 2,668 published cities66
Housing affordability2552nd of 4,223 published cities74
Climate3496th of 4,223 published cities61
Physical resilienceTop 3% of 4,182 published cities95
Access4186th of 4,226 published cities11
Economic stability3124th of 4,226 published cities46
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.6% and median household income $74,087, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Traverse City in the top 3% for physical resilience.

The nearest major airport is 102 miles away, which is farther than most measured US cities.

At a glance

Population
15,593
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$74,087
Top 40% nationally
Density
1,884/sq mi
8.3 sq mi of land
Median age
42.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Grand Traverse County
Michigan
Metro area
Traverse City, MI
Nearest major airport
APN
102 mi · Alpena County Rgnl
Median home value
$415,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.6% is lower than 80% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 7.7% over the past year, to 49,715 employed residents.

47% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 87% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$7,199$74,087Top 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$6,361$53,432Top 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate12.3%Top 45%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.6 minBottom 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher47.4%Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment49,715Top 50%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-7.0%Bottom 1%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-7.7%Bottom 1%June 2026
Labor force51,545Top 50%June 2026
Labor force participation62.6%Top 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$58,850Bottom 11%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$47,470Bottom 19%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.5%Bottom 21%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.6%Bottom 20%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202474k64k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $74,087 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 — Traverse City, MI
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons2,390$34,540
Registered Nurses2,020$83,690
Cashiers1,850$30,920
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,730$28,560
Office Clerks, General1,650$44,470
Waiters and Waitresses1,610$41,380

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 Grand Traverse County, MI, which contains this city.

42% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 52% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
10
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
41.7%
Top 32% in Michigan
Reading proficiency
52.3%
Top 36% in Michigan
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Central High SchoolTraverse City Area Public Schools1,32623.7
Grand Traverse Academy · charterGrand Traverse Academy82415.347%55%
Eastern Elementary SchoolTraverse City Area Public Schools47519.047%57%
Traverse Heights Elem SchoolTraverse City Area Public Schools24513.610%25%
Traverse City High SchoolTraverse City Area Public Schools17117.1
Old Mission Peninsula School · charterOld Mission Peninsula School14611.250%70%
North EdNew HorizonsNorthwest Education Services755.4
North EdBridgewayNorthwest Education Services702.9
Life Skills CenterNorthwest Education Services673.4
North EdCareer TechNorthwest Education Services0

30.7% 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 $995 takes 16% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.6 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
16.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$995
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$415,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income5.61Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate63.7%Bottom 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4048,479Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$97$995Top 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$20,684$415,400Top 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income16.1%Bottom 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate15.2%Top 34%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 →

Population has grown 1% since 2020, reaching 15,782 in 2024.

Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202416k16k
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.

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 81°F and January a low of 17°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 29.1 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station TRAVERSE CITY CHERRY CPTL AP, 1.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation29.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low17°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high81°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

95 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Cold waveModerate
Strong windModerate

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

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.

Grand Traverse County records 2.2 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 8.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 14.5 per 100,000 residents in Grand Traverse County.

Homicide
2.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
8.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
14.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
10.4
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 Grand Traverse 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 Traverse City rather than Traverse City 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

No airport meeting the AreaProfile major-airport definition lies within 100 miles; the nearest is 102 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Alpena County RgnlAPN102 mi9,001 ft
Oscoda/WurtsmithOSC111 mi11,801 ft
Mbs IntlMBS113 mi8,002 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
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)
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.

ZIP codes in Traverse City

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
4968625,492$71,609