Plainwell vs Wayland

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

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

Wayland has the higher population (4,430 vs 3,764 in Plainwell). Wayland has the higher median household income ($71,797 vs $65,846 in Plainwell). Wayland has the higher median home value ($201,200 vs $191,100 in Plainwell).

Population, income & housing

	Plainwell	Wayland
Population	3,764	4,430
Median age	39.9 yrs	34.2 yrs
Median household income	$65,846	$71,797
Median home value	$191,100	$201,200
Median gross rent	$860	$1,085
Housing units	1,531	1,851
Homeownership rate	68.2%	69.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.8%	25.6%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Plainwell	Wayland
Population	3,785 → 3,764 (-0.6%)	4,197 → 4,430 (+5.6%)
Median household income	$59,449 → $65,846 (+10.8%)	$54,886 → $71,797 (+30.8%)
Median home value	$131,400 → $191,100 (+45.4%)	$126,400 → $201,200 (+59.2%)
Median gross rent	$687 → $860 (+25.2%)	$779 → $1,085 (+39.3%)

Plainwell

Population

3,7853,764

Median household income

$59,449$65,846

Median home value

$131,400$191,100

Median gross rent

$687$860

Wayland

Population

4,1974,430

Median household income

$54,886$71,797

Median home value

$126,400$201,200

Median gross rent

$779$1,085

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Plainwell	Wayland
Under 5	3.0%	6.9%
5 to 17	13.3%	18.8%
18 to 24	8.7%	11.7%
25 to 34	14.7%	14.4%
35 to 44	19.5%	11.5%
45 to 54	9.2%	13.2%
55 to 64	11.8%	8.7%
65 to 74	13.3%	10.8%
75 and over	6.5%	3.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Plainwell	Wayland
White (non-Hispanic)	83.3%	87.3%
Black or African American	2.3%	3.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	1.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.4%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	11.6%	5.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Plainwell	Wayland
No high school diploma	3.9%	5.0%
High school graduate	41.4%	41.4%
Some college or associate's	32.9%	28.0%
Bachelor's degree	16.0%	20.8%
Graduate or professional degree	5.8%	4.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Plainwell	Wayland
Drove alone	81.5%	73.9%
Carpooled	10.8%	9.1%
Public transit	1.8%	0.3%
Walked	1.1%	9.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.3%	6.5%
Other means	0.5%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Plainwell	Wayland
1-unit, detached	64.6%	58.0%
1-unit, attached	3.9%	5.4%
2 to 4 units	16.1%	6.6%
5 to 19 units	5.7%	16.2%
20 or more units	5.6%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	4.0%	13.0%

Poverty & households

	Plainwell	Wayland
Poverty rate	11.7%	10.2%
Average household size	2.42	2.53
Mean commute (minutes)	20	24
Median year structure built	1965	1977