Benton Harbor vs Buchanan

A side-by-side comparison of Benton Harbor and Buchanan: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Benton Harbor has the higher population (9,023 vs 4,259 in Buchanan). Buchanan has the higher median household income ($54,068 vs $29,652 in Benton Harbor). Buchanan has the higher median home value ($138,400 vs $75,500 in Benton Harbor).

Population, income & housing

	Benton Harbor	Buchanan
Population	9,023	4,259
Median age	33.2 yrs	32.9 yrs
Median household income	$29,652	$54,068
Median home value	$75,500	$138,400
Median gross rent	$775	$952
Housing units	4,324	2,112
Homeownership rate	36.5%	56.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	7.8%	14.7%
Unemployment rate	20.8%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Benton Harbor	Buchanan
Population	9,843 → 9,023 (-8.3%)	4,304 → 4,259 (-1.0%)
Median household income	$21,916 → $29,652 (+35.3%)	$42,593 → $54,068 (+26.9%)
Median home value	$63,300 → $75,500 (+19.3%)	$109,700 → $138,400 (+26.2%)
Median gross rent	$644 → $775 (+20.3%)	$674 → $952 (+41.2%)

Benton Harbor

Population

9,8439,023

Median household income

$21,916$29,652

Median home value

$63,300$75,500

Median gross rent

$644$775

Buchanan

Population

4,3044,259

Median household income

$42,593$54,068

Median home value

$109,700$138,400

Median gross rent

$674$952

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Benton Harbor	Buchanan
Under 5	5.2%	9.3%
5 to 17	23.1%	14.6%
18 to 24	10.1%	12.7%
25 to 34	13.2%	15.1%
35 to 44	14.6%	10.2%
45 to 54	15.0%	13.6%
55 to 64	10.2%	8.2%
65 to 74	5.3%	8.5%
75 and over	3.2%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Benton Harbor	Buchanan
White (non-Hispanic)	9.3%	79.9%
Black or African American	80.2%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.4%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.7%	10.2%
Hispanic or Latino	5.5%	7.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Benton Harbor	Buchanan
No high school diploma	19.3%	5.3%
High school graduate	36.6%	34.6%
Some college or associate's	36.3%	45.4%
Bachelor's degree	5.1%	10.8%
Graduate or professional degree	2.8%	3.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Benton Harbor	Buchanan
Drove alone	76.2%	80.8%
Carpooled	11.2%	11.7%
Public transit	1.2%	0.0%
Walked	3.3%	2.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.6%	3.7%
Other means	0.4%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Benton Harbor	Buchanan
1-unit, detached	71.8%	62.7%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	7.6%	11.7%
5 to 19 units	8.2%	21.3%
20 or more units	10.6%	2.8%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	0.7%

Poverty & households

	Benton Harbor	Buchanan
Poverty rate	41.9%	6.7%
Average household size	2.38	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	18	19
Median year structure built	1956	1958