Plainwell vs Saugatuck

A side-by-side comparison of Plainwell and Saugatuck: population, income, housing, and more.

Plainwell and Saugatuck are places in Michigan. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Plainwell has the higher population (3,764 vs 751 in Saugatuck). Saugatuck has the higher median household income ($118,309 vs $65,846 in Plainwell). Saugatuck has the higher median home value ($619,400 vs $191,100 in Plainwell).

Population, income & housing

	Plainwell	Saugatuck
Population	3,764	751
Median age	39.9 yrs	55.6 yrs
Median household income	$65,846	$118,309
Median home value	$191,100	$619,400
Median gross rent	$860	$505
Housing units	1,531	967
Homeownership rate	68.2%	82.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.8%	75.5%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Plainwell	Saugatuck
Population	3,785 → 3,764 (-0.6%)	850 → 751 (-11.6%)
Median household income	$59,449 → $65,846 (+10.8%)	$68,063 → $118,309 (+73.8%)
Median home value	$131,400 → $191,100 (+45.4%)	$420,700 → $619,400 (+47.2%)
Median gross rent	$687 → $860 (+25.2%)	$475 → $505 (+6.3%)

Plainwell

Population

3,7853,764

Median household income

$59,449$65,846

Median home value

$131,400$191,100

Median gross rent

$687$860

Saugatuck

Population

850751

Median household income

$68,063$118,309

Median home value

$420,700$619,400

Median gross rent

$475$505

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Plainwell	Saugatuck
Under 5	3.0%	2.8%
5 to 17	13.3%	12.6%
18 to 24	8.7%	0.4%
25 to 34	14.7%	3.1%
35 to 44	19.5%	6.3%
45 to 54	9.2%	22.2%
55 to 64	11.8%	19.0%
65 to 74	13.3%	17.6%
75 and over	6.5%	16.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Plainwell	Saugatuck
White (non-Hispanic)	83.3%	97.6%
Black or African American	2.3%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.3%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.4%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	11.6%	0.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Plainwell	Saugatuck
No high school diploma	3.9%	3.5%
High school graduate	41.4%	11.1%
Some college or associate's	32.9%	10.0%
Bachelor's degree	16.0%	51.7%
Graduate or professional degree	5.8%	23.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Plainwell	Saugatuck
Drove alone	81.5%	52.6%
Carpooled	10.8%	5.1%
Public transit	1.8%	1.7%
Walked	1.1%	9.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.3%	30.6%
Other means	0.5%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Plainwell	Saugatuck
1-unit, detached	64.6%	73.8%
1-unit, attached	3.9%	4.0%
2 to 4 units	16.1%	6.5%
5 to 19 units	5.7%	13.3%
20 or more units	5.6%	2.3%
Mobile home & other	4.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Plainwell	Saugatuck
Poverty rate	11.7%	11.6%
Average household size	2.42	1.83
Mean commute (minutes)	20	57
Median year structure built	1965	1978